Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics www.atmos-chem-phys.net 1680-7316 1680-7324 7 24 2007 10.5194/acp-7-6161-2007 http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/6161/2007/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/6161/2007/acp-7-6161-2007.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/6161/2007/acp-7-6161-2007.pdf 6161 6173 2007-12-19 Alignment of atmospheric mineral dust due to electric field Z. Ulanowski z.ulanowski@herts.ac.uk J. Bailey P. W. Lucas J. H. Hough E. Hirst Science and Technology Research Institute, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK Australian Centre for Astrobiology, Macquarie University, Sydney NSW 2109, Australia Optical polarimetry observations on La Palma, Canary Islands, during a Saharan dust episode show dichroic extinction indicating the presence of vertically aligned particles in the atmosphere. Modelling of the extinction together with particle orientation indicates that the alignment could have been due to an electric field of the order of 2 kV/m. 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