Global scale comparison of simultaneous ionospheric potential measurements

A unique series of simultaneous ionospheric potential (VI) balloon soundings were obtained every 3 h over 2 full days at Weston, MA and Darwin, Australia, on the other side of the earth. These comparisons were to test the assumption that the ionosphere at sub-auroral latitudes is an equipotential and that a single measurement can provide a globally representative number. Another objective was to evaluate meteorological conditions affecting the measurements in a clean dry continental atmosphere (Darwin) compared with a more variable moist less clean atmosphere (Weston). The results indicate that for the Darwin data the VI measurements were within 10% of the classic Carnegie curve diurnal variation while the Weston data were more variable and often too large. The major source of error appears to be due to hydrated aerosol at Weston causing high electric fields in the exchange layer that were not fully compensated by electric fields above the inversion. The prototype instrumentation also contributed some error. The major finding of this experiment is that a layer of low conductivity air near the ground can have an unexpectedly large effect on electric field sounding data leading to error in the estimates of VI magnitude. This finding would not have been possible if simultaneous measurements in different airmasses had not been made since the individual electric field profiles appeared normal.