Precipitation and cloud electricity

Based on the evaluation of atmospheric electricity data recorded synoptically over a period of several years in a high‐mountain area between 600 and 3,000 metres above sea‐level, observations of the behaviour of several atmospheric electricity parameters are briefly presented. Besides providing information on charge separation occurring during drifting snow and on cloud charges, the results show the fundamental importance, with respect to atmospheric electricity phenomena, of the melting zone of falling precipitation and of the intensity of atmospheric turbulence and its dependence on altitude. A generally applicable mathematical formulation is given for the relation between the potential gradient and the precipitation current density. This is valid for both low and high altitudes above sea‐level and takes the differences between different types of precipitation into account.