Ionospheric Impacts on Power Line Emissions

Electric power grids are crucial for providing power to various sectors, but they also generate power line emissions (PLEs) at 50/60 Hz and harmonic radiation (PLHR) up to ~5 kHz or higher due to nonlinear loads and switching transients. These emissions can propagate as whistler waves into the ionosphere and magnetosphere. Observations of PLEs and PLHR have been made by the Chibis-M and DEMETER microsatellites. Understanding their generation, propagation, and interaction with the ionosphere is important for improving our understanding of the near-Earth electromagnetic environment .Raytracing is commonly used for ionospheric studies because it is computationally inexpensive. However, as the frequency decreases and wavelength increases, raytracing results deviate from reality due to its reliance on short-wavelength assumptions. Other more recently-developed frequency domain full-wave calculations that do not employ a spatial grid are not able to account for the complex ionospheric details between the ground and the upper ionosphere. We address this with a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) model, solving Maxwell’s equations and plasma momentum equations over a 3-D grid and accounting for ionospheric plasma variations and inhomogeneities. We simulate a VLF wave in the range of PLHR emissions from ground level to satellite altitudes using a 3-D ionospheric profile of electron densities from the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI). We also study the impact of spatial inhomogeneities on the propagation PLHR. This presentation will describe the model, its validation, and its application to PLHR propagation in various regions, including polar, mid-latitude, and equatorial areas. Lastly, we will discuss the FDTD method's advantages in simulating PLHR propagation through a polar cap patch with sub-wavelength inhomogeneities. In conclusion, our approach can serve as a useful tool for better tracking and studying ELF / VLF electromagnetic wave propagation through the ionosphere and will provide clearer insights into ELF/VLF wave behavior, thereby advancing our ability to track and understand electromagnetic wave interactions in the ionosphere. Supplementary Material File (agu2024pptgbo.pdf) - Download - 1.32 MB Information & Authors Information Version history Copyright This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Authors Funding Information 2434336 Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 156views 94downloads Citations Download citation Apoorva Pedgaonkar. Ionospheric Impacts on Power Line Emissions. Authorea. 28 February 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.174077242.27310511/v1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.174077242.27310511/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.