It is known that the global electric circuit (GEC) intensity can be characterised by a single global index, namely the ionospheric potential (IP), made up of contributions from electrified clouds all over the globe. Using the Weather Research and Forecasting model, we have reproduced the atmospheric dynamics for 2008–2018 and simulated the variation of the GEC by parameterising regional contributions to the IP in terms of convection and precipitation. Considering that the El Niño—Southern Oscillation (ENSO) can be quantitatively characterised by sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the Niño 3.4 region, this allowed us to identify and study in detail the effect of ENSO on regional contributions to the GEC. Our simulations have shown that contributions to the GEC from the land and oceanic parts of the Earth's surface respond oppositely to the ENSO cycle. The oceanic contribution is positively correlated with the Niño 3.4 SST, largely owing to increases in convection over the Pacific Ocean. In contrast to the oceans, the land contribution shows a negative correlation with ENSO due to decreases in convection over the Maritime Continent and South America. The observed correlations are statistically significant and are clearly seen on the decadal timescale; at the same time contributions to the IP for individual years do not always clearly reflect the corresponding Niño 3.4 SST anomalies. During the two El Niños and two La Niñas that occurred between 2008 and 2018, the oceanic contribution always changed in phase with ENSO, increasing in El Niño years and decreasing in La Niña years; on the other hand, the contribution of land showed a clear variation in antiphase with ENSO only for the 2015/16 El Niño and 2010/11 La Niña, characterised by extremely large SST anomalies, with a small and indefinite effect for the two lesser events. When summing the contributions of land and ocean, two strong effects of opposite signs nearly counterbalance each other and we obtain a much less pronounced effect of ENSO on the total IP. This effect is generally positive since land and ocean provide nearly equal contributions to the GEC during Northern Hemisphere winters and, according to our analysis, the contribution of ocean is slightly more sensitive to ENSO than that of land.

众所周知，全球电路（GEC）的强度可以通过一个单一的全球指标来表征，即电离层电势（IP），该指标由全球各地带电云的贡献组成。使用天气研究和预报模型，我们再现了2008-2018年的大气动力学，并通过参数化对流和降水参数化区域对IP的贡献来模拟GEC的变化。考虑到厄尔尼诺-南方涛动（ENSO）可以通过Niño3.4区域的海面温度（SST）定量表征，这使我们能够确定和详细研究ENSO对区域对GEC贡献的影响。我们的模拟表明，地球的陆地和海洋部分对GEC的贡献 表面对ENSO循环的响应相反。海洋贡献与Niño3.4 SST正相关，这主要是由于太平洋上空的对流增加。与海洋相反，由于海洋大陆和南美对流的减少，土地贡献与ENSO呈负相关。观测到的相关性具有统计学意义，并且在十年时间尺度上清晰可见。同时，单个年份对IP的贡献并不总是清楚地反映出相应的Niño3.4 SST异常。在2008年至2018年发生的两次厄尔尼诺和两次拉尼娜时期，海洋贡献总是与ENSO同步变化，在厄尔尼诺年增加，而在拉尼娜年减少。另一方面，土地贡献仅在2015/16厄尔尼诺和2010/11拉尼娜期间与ENSO呈明显的反相位变化，其特征是超大的海温异常，对两个较小的事件影响很小且不确定。将陆地和海洋的贡献相加时，两个相反符号的强烈影响几乎彼此抵消，我们获得的ENSO对总IP的影响要小得多。这种影响通常是积极的，因为在北半球冬季，陆地和海洋对GEC的贡献几乎相等，并且根据我们的分析，海洋对ENSO的敏感性比陆地对海洋的敏感性稍高。将陆地和海洋的贡献相加时，两个相反符号的强烈影响几乎彼此抵消，我们获得的ENSO对总IP的影响要小得多。这种影响通常是积极的，因为在北半球冬季，陆地和海洋对GEC的贡献几乎相等，而且根据我们的分析，海洋对ENSO的敏感性比陆地对ENSO的敏感性稍高。将陆地和海洋的贡献相加时，两个相反符号的强烈影响几乎彼此抵消，我们获得的ENSO对总IP的影响要小得多。这种影响通常是积极的，因为在北半球冬季，陆地和海洋对GEC的贡献几乎相等，而且根据我们的分析，海洋对ENSO的敏感性比陆地对ENSO的敏感性稍高。