The Influence of the Atmospheric Electric Field on Soil Redox Potential

Abstract

Atmospheric electric fields (AEFs) have recently been proposed to link to biogeochemical processes below the Earth’s surface by means of a charge separation. Despite the potential importance of such a process, up to now we almost completely lack the relevant measurements. Here, we extend the database with 2 months of concurrent soil redox and atmospheric electric field measurements. It appears that the changes that occur in the order of days in soil redox are at periods anticorrelated with the logarithm of the positive values of the AEF. However, weather conditions might be driving the anticorrelation rather than a direct link, as the synoptic weather conditions appear to influence soil redox. Soil redox does not respond to changes in the AEF that are of shorter duration, either minutes or several hours, except in some cases of very negative AEFs or very high field strengths in the presence of moderate rainfall. In such a case, the variation in soil redox could be associated with a mechanism that transfers charge to the ground or brings ions towards the ground’s surface. To reach firmer conclusions on the effect of the AEF on soil redox, we need to extend the range of collocated soil redox and AEF measurements so that they cover at least one year.