Details:

Journal Title:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Personal Author:
Pollack, I. B. ; Homeyer, C. R. ; Ryerson, T. B. ; Aikin, K. C. ; Peischl, J. ; ... More +
Pollack, I. B. ; Homeyer, C. R. ; Ryerson, T. B. ; Aikin, K. C. ; Peischl, J. ; Apel, E. C. ; Campos, T. ; Flocke, F. ; Hornbrook, R. S. ; Knapp, D. J. ; Montzka, D. D. ; Weinheimer, A. J. ; Riemer, D. ; Diskin, G. ; Sachse, G. ; Mikoviny, T. ; Wisthaler, A. ; Bruning, E. ; MacGorman, D. ; Cummings, K. A. ; Pickering, K. E. ; Huntrieser, H. ; Lichtenstern, M. ; Schlager, H. ; Barth, M. C. Less -
NOAA Program & Office:
OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; ESRL (Earth System Research Laboratory) ; CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences) ; CSL (Chemical Sciences Laboratory) ; NSSL (National Severe Storms Laboratory)
OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; ESRL (Earth System Research Laboratory) ; CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences) ; CSL (Chemical Sciences Laboratory) ; NSSL (National Severe Storms Laboratory) Less -
Description:
The reported range for global production of nitrogen oxides (NOx=NO+NO2) by lightning remains large (e.g., 32 to 664mol NOx flash(-1)), despite incorporating results from over 30 individual laboratory, theoretical, and field studies since the 1970s. Airborne and ground-based observations from the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry experiment in May and June 2012 provide a new data set for calculating moles of NOx produced per lightning flash, P(NOx), in thunderstorms over the United States Great Plains. This analysis utilizes a combination of in situ observations of storm inflow and outflow from three instrumented aircraft, three-dimensional spatial information from ground-based radars and satellite observations, and spatial and temporal information for intracloud and cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from ground-based lightning mapping arrays. Evaluation of two analysis methods (e.g., a volume-based approach and a flux-based approach) for converting enhancements in lightning-produced NOx from volume-based mixing ratios to moles NOx flash(-1) suggests that both methods equally approximate P(NOx) for storms with elongated anvils, while the volume-based approach better approximates P(NOx) for storms with circular-shaped anvils. Results from the more robust volume-based approach for three storms sampled over Oklahoma and Colorado during DC3 suggest a range of 142 to 291 (average of 194) moles NOx flash(-1) (or 117-332mol NOx flash(-1) including uncertainties). Although not vastly different from the previously reported range for storms occurring in the Great Plains (e.g., 21-465mol NOx flash(-1)), results from this analysis of DC3 storms offer more constrained upper and lower limits for P(NOx) in this geographical region.
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(4), 2002-2028.
DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015jd023941
Document Type:
Journal Article
Rights Information:
Other
Compliance:
Submitted
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:7e183be3967147c27080940b2fe74f9bc00f1d4a152f9105ce201742c1da1b65
Download URL:
https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/21794/noaa_21794_DS1.pdf
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