Transient currents generated by electrical discharges

Abstract

Analytical expressions for the electromagnetic coupling between electrical discharges and floating conducting surfaces are derived. Electrical discharges can occur on satellite surfaces during energetic electron injection events associated with magnetospheric substorms. The theory presented here can be used to study interference to electronic circuits that may be caused by such discharges. The expressions derived in this paper are consistent with laboratory calibrations of an electrical pulse counter that has detected such discharges on a geostationary satellite.