Spherical harmonic series solution of fields excited by vertical electric dipole in earth-ionosphere cavity

Abstract

The spherical harmonic series expression of electromagnetic fields excited by ELF/SLF vertical electric dipole in the spherical earth-ionosphere cavity is derived when the earth and ionosphere are regarded as non-ideal conductors. A method of speeding numerical convergence has been presented. The electromagnetic fields in the cavity are calculated by this algorithm, and the results show that the electromagnetic fields between the earth and the ionosphere are the sum of two traveling waves in the SLF band. Moreover, the results are in complete agreement with that of the well-known spherical second-order approximation in the SLF band. The electromagnetic fields in the cavity are a type of standing wave in the ELF band and the variation of the amplitude versus frequency coincides with Schumann’s resonance.