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For the purpose of profiling the electrical properties of the Earth's atmosphere, we have implemented a set of low-cost, disposable and easily reproducible sensors which were integrated for the deployment in balloon-borne platforms, such as the GRAW DFM-09 meteorological radiosondes, but can be easily reconfigured for other XDATA-compatible ones.
The specific versions were designed, assembled and calibrated in the National Observatory of Athens under the framework of the D-TECT ERC scientific project and were mass produced by the electricity-sensors team for multiple radiosonde launches during the ASKOS 2022 experimental campaign in Cape Verde.
The first sensor is a new miniaturized iteration of the commercial fieldmill electrometer type of sensor, such as the JCI 131 Electrostatic Fieldmeter or the EFM-100 Electric Field Mill. It is designed to measure the atmospheric Electric field strengths from fair weather values of ~150
The second sensor is an implementation of a self-calibrating electrometer for atmospheric space charge measurements based on the previously published work of Nicoll et al. 2009, 2013. It is designed to measure Space charge densities between the range of a few