A study of turbulent diffusion in the lower atmosphere using artificially produced electric space charge

An investigation into the behaviour of artificially produced ions, released from a point source a few metres above the Earth’s surface, is presented. It is shown both experimentally and theoretically that the ions form a plume downwind of the ion source and, moreover, that the nature of this plume is rather similar to that of a smoke plume. Electric field and ion concentration measurements have been used to deduce certain features about ion plumes and distinct connexions between ion plume behaviour and the local meteorological conditions have been observed. In particular, the use of bidirectional vane techniques has indicated that ions can be used quite successfully as a tracer in short range atmospheric diffusion experiments. The technique does however, possess certain limitations, the details of which are included in the text.