Current and future applications of 3-D global earth-ionosphere waveguide models based on the full-vector maxwells equations FDTD method

Advances in computing technologies in recent decades have provided a means of generating and performing highly sophisticated computational simulations of electromagnetic phenomena. In particular, just after the turn of the 21st century, improvements to computing infrastructures provided for the first time the opportunity to conduct advanced, high-resolution three-dimensional full-vector Maxwell's equations investigations of electromagnetic propagation throughout the global Earth-ionosphere spherical volume. In particular, global models employing the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method are capable of including such details as the Earth's topography and bathymetry, as well as arbitrary horizontal / vertical geometrical and electrical inhomogeneities and anisotropies of the ionosphere, lithosphere, and oceans. Studies at this level of detail simply are not achievable using analytical methods. The goal of this Paper is to provide an historical overview and future prospectus of global FDTD computational research for both natural and man-made electromagnetic phenomena around the world. Current and future applications of global FDTD models relating to lightning sources and radiation, Schumann resonances, hypothesized earthquake precursors, remote sensing, and space weather are discussed.