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AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Atmospheres

 

Index Terms

  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Cloud physics and chemistry
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere—constituent transport and chemistry
  • Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Convective processes
  • Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Lightning
Abstract
Cited By (13)
 

Abstract

Observational- and modeling-based budget of lightning-produced NOx in a continental thunderstorm

W. C. Skamarock

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

J. E. Dye

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

E. Defer

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

M. C. Barth

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

J. L. Stith

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

B. A. Ridley

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

K. Baumann

Department of Space and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

NOx transport and production by lightning for the 10 July 1996 Stratosphere-Troposphere Experiment-Radiation, Aerosols, and Ozone convective storm is examined using radar, in situ observations and cloud model simulations. Observations and model simulations indicate that most of the NOx produced by the storm was transported out into the anvil. The analyzed NOx flux into the anvil, combined with results from a cloud model simulation, indicate that approximately 60 percent of the NOx transported into the anvil during the observational period is produced by lightning. Lightning flash rate and channel length measurements, obtained using the Office National d'Etudes et de Recherche Arospatiales lightning interferometer, are combined with the NOx budget to give estimates of average lightning NOx production per interferometer flash and per unit flash channel length. The analysis yields production rates of approximately 43.2 moles (2.6 × 1025 molecules) NOx per interferometer flash and 1.7 × 10−3 moles (1.0 × 1021 molecules) NOx per meter of flash channel. These production rates fall within the bounds of rates derived in previous studies using completely different approaches.

Received 4 February 2002; accepted 25 November 2002; published 21 May 2003.

Citation: Skamarock, W. C., J. E. Dye, E. Defer, M. C. Barth, J. L. Stith, B. A. Ridley, and K. Baumann (2003), Observational- and modeling-based budget of lightning-produced NOx in a continental thunderstorm, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D10), 4305, doi:10.1029/2002JD002163.

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