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NOx from lightning 1. Global distribution based on lightning physics
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TLDR
In this paper, Price et al. studied the role of lightning in maintaining the global distribution of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the troposphere and derived a global rate for cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes of 20−30 flashes with a mean energy per flash of 6.7×109 J.Abstract:
This paper begins a study on the role of lightning in maintaining the global distribution of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the troposphere. It presents the first global and seasonal distributions of lightning-produced NOx (LNOx) based on the observed distribution of electrical storms and the physical properties of lightning strokes. We derive a global rate for cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes of 20–30 flashes/s with a mean energy per flash of 6.7×109 J. Intracloud (IC) flashes are more frequent, 50–70 flashes/s but have 10% of the energy of CG strokes and, consequently, produce significantly less NOx. It appears to us that the majority of previous studies have mistakenly assumed that all lightning flashes produce the same amount of NOx, thus overestimating the NOx production by a factor of 3. On the other hand, we feel these same studies have underestimated the energy released in CG flashes, resulting in two negating assumptions. For CG energies we adopt a production rate of 10×1016 molecules NO/J based on the current literature. Using a method to simulate global lightning frequencies from satellite-observed cloud data, we have calculated the LNOx on various spatial (regional, zonal, meridional, and global) and temporal scales (daily, monthly, seasonal, and interannual). Regionally, the production of LNOx is concentrated over tropical continental regions, predominantly in the summer hemisphere. The annual mean production rate is calculated to be 12.2 Tg N/yr, and we believe it extremely unlikely that this number is less than 5 or more than 20 Tg N/yr. Although most of LNOx, is produced in the lowest 5 km by CG lightning, convective mixing in the thunderstorms is likely to deposit large amounts of NOx, in the upper troposphere where it is important in ozone production. On an annual basis, 64% of the LNOx, is produced in the northern hemisphere, implying that the northern hemisphere should have natural ozone levels as much as 2 times greater than the southern hemisphere, even before anthropogenic influences. The amount of O3 produced from this NOx is expected to exceed the stratospheric source by a factor of 1.5, and thus the hemispheric asymmetry in LNOx would lead to a significant excess of northern hemisphere O3 even in the preindustrial troposphere. (The monthly climatologies for LNOx on a 1°×1° latitude-longitude grid can be obtained by e-mail to cprice@flash.tau.ac.il).read more
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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Tropospheric chemistry: A global perspective
TL;DR: A model for the photochemistry of the global troposphere constrained by observed concentrations of H2O, O3, CO, CH4, NO, NO2, and HNO3 is presented in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
ISCCP Cloud Data Products
TL;DR: The International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) began in July 1983 and has been used to produce a global cloud climatology since then as mentioned in this paper, including visible and infrared images from an international network of weather satellites.
Journal ArticleDOI
The influence of nitrogen oxides on the atmospheric ozone content
TL;DR: In this paper, the probable importance of NO and NO2 in controlling the ozone concentrations and production rates in the stratosphere is pointed out and some processes which may lead to production of nitric acid are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Normal atmosphere: large radical and formaldehyde concentrations predicted.
TL;DR: A radical chain reaction is proposed for the rapid removal of carbon monoxide, leading to acarbon monoxide lifetime as low as 0.2 year in the surface atmosphere.
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