Atmospheric electric field during the solar eclipse on 14 December 2020

VELAZQUEZ YASMIN; MARIA G. NICORA; VICTORIA S. GALLIGANI; ELIAN A. WOLFRAM; FACUNDO ORTE; DELIA RAUL; SEBASTIÁN PAPANDREAS; FEDERICO VERSTRAETEN

Tel Aviv

Conferencia; 17th International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity; 2022

In the atmosphere, there is a vertical electric field also known as the potential gradient (PG), as a result of theglobal atmospheric electric circuit (GAEC). This variable measured at ground level is affected either by globalstorms as well as by the influence of local meteorological factors.Solar eclipses are natural meteorological experiments to study the response of the atmosphere to a wellcharacterizedreduction in solar radiation. The 14 December 2020 total solar eclipse occurred over the north ofPatagonia (Argentina) during summer and at noon during the passage of a cold front. In order to study thiseclipse, a field campaign under the name of "Solar Eclipse 2020 Project" was carried out and meteorologicalinstruments were installed in the city of Valcheta (V in Fig. 1, 100% occultation). Additionally two other PGobservation sites are available: Buenos Aires (C in Fig. 1, 73%) and El Leoncito (L in Fig. 1, 71%).In this study we analyze the variation of PG in these three sites during the total eclipse and evaluate its correlationwith other meteorological measurements. The results presented here correspond to the published work ofVelazquez et al, 2022.