Surface measurements of the atmospheric electrical parameters like Maxwell current, electric field and conductivity studied at the Indian station, Maitri (70.75°S, 11.75°E, 117m above mean sea level), Antarctica, during austral summer have been analyzed for the years 2001 to 2004. A total of 69 days were selected which satisfied the ‘fairweather’ conditions, i.e., days with absence of high winds, drifting or falling snow, clouds, and fog effects. The diurnal variation curve of electric field and vertical current averaged for 69 fairweather days is a single periodic with a minimum at 03:00UT and a maximum near 19:00UT, which is very similar to the Carnegie curve. The correlation coefficient between these measured parameters has a high value (more than 0.9) for all the days. During fairweather days the measured current and field variations are similar and hence it is clear that the conductivity is more or less stable. During magnetically disturbed days, the dawn-dusk potential drop has clear influences on the diurnal variation and it modifies the conductivity. Apart from the day-to-day variation in low latitude thunderstorm activity, there are diurnal, seasonal, inter-annual variations in the electric potential and the currents, as well as solar influences on the measured parameters. This study will help us to examine the impact of solar and geophysical phenomena like solar flares, geomagnetic storms and substorms on the global electric circuit.

During the month of March 2006, a short campaign was conducted to measure fair-weather atmospheric electricity parameters in Tripura, Northeast India (23.50°N, 91.25°E). The campaign was the first of its kind in this region of the globe. The main objective of the campaign was to characterize the diurnal variation of three parameters namely vertical potential gradient (𝐸), vertical air–earth current density (Jz) and atmospheric electrical conductivity (𝜎) in fair-weather conditions. The diurnal variation of 𝐸 and Jz over sixteen fair-weather days shows two distinct maxima around 14UT and 20UT and a minimum around 03UT. The average vertical potential gradient is found to be 108V·m⁻¹ and air–earth current density 1.85 pA·m⁻². The average bipolar atmospheric electrical conductivity at the ground level is found to be 19.6 fS·m⁻¹. An excellent positive correlation between 𝐸 and Jz is found, with a correlation coefficient of 0.96. A comparative study with Carnegie universal variation shows 70% correlation with observed variation of vertical potential gradient during the period of the campaign. The results are discussed in view of difficulty as well as possibility of getting global signatures in atmospheric electricity measurements made from tropical land stations.

The main aim of the paper is to describe mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) wind field observed between June 2000 and May 2002 by medium frequency (MF) radars at two locations near the equatorial region and at tropical latitude. We have presented and compared observations of mean horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region over Kolhapur (16.8°N, 74.2°E) and Tirunelveli (8.7°N, 77.8°E). Our analysis reveals annual oscillation in the zonal wind and semi-annual oscillation in the meridional wind over Kolhapur. On the other hand, results over Tirunelveli reveal semi-annual oscillation (SAO) in the zonal wind and annual oscillation in the meridional wind. Also we have observed enhanced magnitude of wind speed in spring equinox period of 2002 exhibiting the signatures of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) over Tirunelveli.