Estimation of the 3-D geoelectric field at the Earth's surface using spherical elementary current systems

Abstract

Abstract

The geoelectric field drives geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in technological conductor networks, which can affect the performance of critical ground infrastructure such as electric power transmission grids. The three-dimensional (3-D) electric field at the Earth's surface consists of an external divergence-free (DF) part due to temporally and spatially varying ionospheric and magnetospheric currents, an internal DF part due to temporally and spatially varying telluric currents, and a curl-free (CF) part due to charge accumulation at ground conductivity gradients. We have developed a new method for estimating these contributions. The external and internal parts of the DF electric field are calculated from the time derivative of the external and internal parts of the observed ground magnetic field, respectively, using DF two-dimensional (2-D) spherical elementary current systems (SECSs). The horizontal surface CF electric field is calculated from the known surface DF electric field using coefficients that linearly relate the DF electric field to the CF electric field. The coefficients were obtained from the 3-D induction model PGIEM2G (Polynomial Galerkin Integral Equation Modelling in ElectroMagnetic Geophysics). The calculations are carried out in the time domain, and only two consecutive time steps of the observed magnetic field are needed to compute the surface electric field. The external part of the DF electric field is valid at and below the ionosphere, the internal part at and above the Earth's surface, and the CF part at the Earth's surface. A dense magnetometer network is a requirement for reliable results. The external and internal parts of the DF electric field are generally oppositely directed and have comparable amplitudes, both on the ground and in the ionosphere, indicating that both contributions are significant for the total DF electric field. The largest peaks of the total DF electric field tend to occur when either the external or internal contribution is temporarily suppressed. At a given location, a DF electric field with a given amplitude can result in a total surface electric field amplitude with a difference of orders of magnitude depending on the direction of the DF electric field with respect to the locally dominant conductivity gradient structure. The electric field calculation is computationally light, facilitating operational implementation of a near-real-time 3-D surface electric field monitoring and derivation of long electric field time series.