Articles | Volume 11, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-11-207-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-11-207-2020
Note
 | 
11 Sep 2020
Note |  | 11 Sep 2020

Behind the curve: a comparison of historical sources for the Carnegie curve of the global atmospheric electric circuit

R. Giles Harrison

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The early 20th century voyages of the Carnegie – a floating geophysical observatory – revealed the daily rhythm of atmospheric electricity. Combined with ideas from Nobel Prize winner C. T. R. Wilson, the Carnegie curve helped answer a fundamental question, from the time of Benjamin Franklin, about the origin of Earth's negative charge. The Carnegie curve still provides an importance reference variation, and the original data, explored further here, have new relevance to geophysical change.