Impact of Bioaerosol Particles on Atmospheric Charging/Discharging and Conductivity in the Global Electric Circuit (GEC)

Understanding the dynamics of atmospheric ions, the carriers of electrons and ions in the global electric circuit (GEC), is necessary to fully understand Earth’s atmospheric electricity. Because atmospheric ions are too small to be influenced by gravity, the gravitational settling of aerosol particle in fair weather has not been considered as a driving force in the GEC model. However, the attachment of these particles to other coarse particles can cause them to move in gravity’s direction. In this study, the influence of the gravitational settling of various bioaerosol particles with electrostatic force on the GEC is calculated. The results show the importance of considering bioaerosol particles in the GEC model, and that pollen grains can carry the order of 0.1% of ions and electrons carried by atmospheric ions due to their weight and charging efficiencies. Also, the reduction in atmospheric conductivity in the presence of bioaerosol particles was calculated. Bioaerosol particles can reduce atmospheric conductivity by an order of 0.01% due to pollen and by an order of 0.1% due to microbes.