Deducing spatial characteristics of global thunderstorm activity using the observed Schumann resonance frequencies

The paper addresses a new methodology of studying the global Schumann Resonance, an electromagnetic phenomenon driven by thunderstorms worldwide. We present a new concept and derive formulae for the simultaneous assessment of the effective source–observer distance- and the spatial extent of the area covered by global thunderstorm activity. We demonstrate that this task requires the simultaneous recording of the diurnal patterns of the peak frequencies for the first and second resonance modes in either the vertical electric or the horizontal magnetic field components. Alternatively, this problem can be solved by simultaneous monitoring for the first mode frequency in both the vertical electric and horizontal magnetic fields. Calibration curves based on a realistic model of the Earth-ionosphere cavity are provided as well.