A.C./D.C. atmospheric global electric circuit phenomena

We review the global circuit driven by thunderstorms and electrified rain clouds. With the ionosphere at an equipotential of ∼ +250kV with respect to the Earth, the load in the circuit is the fair weather atmosphere; its conductivity is mainly determined by the flux of galactic cosmic rays. The circuit exhibits variability in both space and time by more than fifteen orders of magnitude. We discuss results produced by a new electrical engineering analogue model of the circuit constructed using the PSpice software package. Finally, we consider several interesting new experimental observations relating to the topic.