Global atmospheric electrical circuit Science. Global atmospheric electrical circuit The global atmospheric electrical circuit is the course of continuous movement of atmospheric electricity between the ionosphere and the Earth. Through solar radiation, thunderstorms, and the fair-weather condition, the atmosphere is subject to a continual and substantial electrical current. Principally, thunderstorms throughout the world carry "negative" charges to the earth, which is then discharged gradually through the air in fair weather. This atmospheric circuit is central to the study of atmospheric physics and meteorology. It is used in the prediction of thunderstorms, and was central to the understanding of electricity. In the past it has
Atmospheric escape brighter than it is now, making it hot enough for Earth to lose enough hydrogen to space to cause it to lose all of its water (See Future of Earth#Loss of oceans). Atmospheric escape Atmospheric escape is the loss of planetary atmospheric gases to outer space. A number of different mechanisms can be responsible for atmospheric escape, operating at different time scales; the most prominent is Jeans Escape, named after British astronomer Sir James Jeans, who described the process of atmospheric loss to the molecular kinetic energy. The relative importance of each loss process is a function of the planet's