ATMO/ECE 489/589
Outline of Topics
(There may be changes in the order in which this material is presented.  Some of the topics may not be covered, additional topics may be added) 

1.   Introduction
       1.1 Global Electric circuit, "Carnegie curve"
      1.2 Brief historical overview and the electrical studies of Benjamin Franklin
       1.3 Review of classical electricity and magnetism with atmospheric electricity applications
              Coulomb's law, electric field, electrostatic potential, Gauss' Law, Poisson's equation, Laplace's equation
              Method of images, boundary value problems
              Current density, electrical mobility, atmospheric conductivity

2.   Fair Weather Electricity
        2.1 Electrical structure of the atmosphere
              Fair weather electric fields
               Air-earth currents
               Conductivity profiles
        2.2 Sources of atmospheric ions
              Natural radioactivity
               Cosmic rays
        2.3 Small ion mobilities, ion balance equations, ion-aerosol attachment

3.   Cloud Electricity
        3.1 Microphysical structure of thunderstorm clouds
        3.2 Thunderstorm electrification
              Basic charging requirements
                Ion capture and induction mechanisms
                Ice-graupel collisions, laboratory data
                Observations in clouds
        3.3 Thunderstorm electric fields
              Measurements
               Screening layers
               Charge structure of thunderstorms
        3.4 The thunderstorm as a current source
               The Maxwell current

4. Lightning
        4.1 Basic lightning phenomenology
              Area flash densities and strike probabilities
                Negative cloud-to-ground flashes
                Preliminary breakdown
                Stepped leader
                Return strokes
                Dart leader
                J and K processes
                Intracloud discharges
        4.2 Positive lightning, upward lightning and triggered lightning
        4.3 Characteristics of lightning currents
        4.4 Electric and magnetic fields produced by lightning
              Time domain antenna theory
                Radio frequency (RF) emissions
                Lightning return stroke current models, determining lightning current characteristics from remote field measurements
        4.5 Methods of detecting and locating lightning
              Gated wideband sensors (magnetic direction finding and time of arrival)
                RF techniques (time of arrival and interferometry)
                The optical spectrum of lightning and satellite lightning sensors
                Thunder

5. Lightning protection and lightning safety
        5.1 Mechanisms of lightning damage
        5.2 Principles of lightning protection
              Grounding, bonding, and shielding
                Transient protectors
        5.3 Methods of protection from lightning
              Buildings
        5.4 Lightning and aircraft
        5.5 Personal lightning safety

6. Miscellaneous topics
        6.1 Lightning on other planets and volcanic lightning
        6.2 High altitude transient luminous events - sprites, elves, and blue jets
        6.3 Ball lightning

Much of this course is based on a class developed and taught by Dr. E. Philip Krider for many years at the University of Arizona.  Click here for a longer more extensive list of topics used by Dr. Krider when he taught the course. 

This course will probably be very similar to the one taught in Spring 2015.  You can view the notes for most of the lectures from that class here.