Formation of Small-Scale Variations of the Electric Field in Convective Flows in the Earth’s Troposphere

We present an example of calculating the nonlinear stage of the formation of small-scale variations of the electric field in a multidisperse plasma-like medium consisting of a fraction of relatively heavy particles and a weakly conducting convective flow around them in a constant background electric field. A general system of equations describing the indicated medium in a one-dimensional approximation and consisting of the equations of dynamics of heavy particles, continuity equations for the flow of heavy particles and total charge density, as well as the Poisson equation, is given. Calculations of the instability were performed for conditions at altitudes of about 6 km above the Earth’s surface in the region of strong thundercloud convection. The results of calculating the initial stage of instability correspond to the estimates following from the analysis of the dispersion relation. It is shown that due to the development of the instability, multilayer structures of the electric field, density of heavy particles, and charge density with a characteristic vertical scale of the order of 10 m are being formed and are shifted with the flow. The maximum value of the electric field can significantly exceed the initial (background) value.