First Measurements of the Earth’s Electric Field at the Arctowski Antarctic Station, King George Island, by the New Polish Atmospheric Electricity Observation Network

Abstract

Atmospheric electricity measurements are performed all over the globe for getting a better understanding of the processes and phenomena operating in the Earth’s electric atmosphere, ionosphere and magnetosphere. Over recent years, we have established coordinated observations of atmospheric electricity, mainly of the vertical component of the Earth’s atmospheric electric field, from Polish observation stations: Stanisław Kalinowski Geophysical Observatory in Świder, Poland, Stanisław Siedlecki Polar Station in Hornsund, Svalbard, Norway, and, for the first time, the Henryk Arctowski Antarctic Station in King George Island. The organisation of this network is presented here as well as a preliminary summary of geophysical conditions at Arctowski, important from the point of view of atmospheric electricity observations. In particular, we refer to the geomagnetic observations made at Arctowski station in 1978–1995. We also present the average fair-weather diurnal variation of the atmospheric electric field based on observations made so far between 2013 and 2015.