On the Difficulty of the Transport of Electrically Charged Submicron Dust from the Earth’s Surface to the High Ionosphere

Abstract

The transport of electrically charged bacterial-sized dust particles from the stratosphere to the high ionosphere is discussed. With the maximum electric field associated with the Global Electric Circuit during both active thunderstorm and fair weather conditions, we show that electric forces are inadequate to overcome gravity in lofting dust particles from the stratosphere to heights of ~ 400 km in the ionosphere, where they have recently been discovered at the orbit of the International Space Station.