Annual effect of cosmic rays on ionization in the high-latitude troposphere

The seasonal effect of the daily variations in the cosmic ray intensity on the conductivity of the Earth-high-conductivity layer column has been analyzed based on the observations of the cosmic ray intensity, atmospheric current, and electric field vertical component, performed from summer 2006 to spring 2007 at Apatity station. The method for correcting the measurements of the atmospheric current and electric field vertical component under complex tropospheric conditions by numerically simulating the spatial structure of the current and field lines in the observation region has been proposed. It has been indicated that cosmic rays are the main source of ions in the winter polar lower atmosphere and are responsible for the type of daily variations in the conductivity, whereas the daily variations in the atmospheric current more depends on the conductivity rather than on the vertical electric field.