In practical studies of the electricity in the atmosphere's ground layer it is of considerable interest to analyze the results of prolonged simultaneous measurements on several quantities that describe electrical processes in the atmosphere such as, for example, the polar conductivities, %+ and %-, and the volume densities of the electrical charges for light atmospheric ions, p+ and p-. The
... [Show full abstract] familiar instrument designs make sampling measurements on each of the quantities mentioned for a given polarity [i, 2], or can provide simultaneous measurements from different points of a sampling [3]. In this article an instrument [4] is described which is designed for continuous measurements of ~+, ~-, 0 +, and 0- by means of a single aspirating capacitor of a special type. Figure 1 shows a block diagram of this instrument. The aspirating capacitor 1 is coupled through an air duct to a device 6 that draws air through the capacitor at a constant volume velocity Q. Inner I and outer I' measuring electrodes form a measuring capacitor having a capacity~Cl. The inner electrode III located at the capacitor's input, which has a capacity C2, serves as a modulator. The inner electrode II is designed to reduce the stray capacities between the modulator and the measuring electrodes. The inner measuring electrode I is at a constant voltage UI = cQ/(C1ko~), where e is the dielectric constant of air and ko~ is the maximal mobility of the light ions. The voltage UI provides a current saturation mode for the light ions in capacitor CI. The voltage on the modulator is changed in equal time intervals At and takes the values U=,