Estimating Lightning NOx Production Using NO2 Columns from the TROPOMI Instrument and Flashes from the Geostationary Lightning Mappers
<p>Nitric oxide (NO) is produced in lightning channels and quickly comes into equilibrium with nitrogen dioxide (NO<sub>2</sub>)&#160;in the atmosphere.&#160; The production of NO<sub>x</sub> (NO + NO<sub>2</sub>) leads to subsequent increases in the concentrations of ozone (O<sub>3</sub>) and the hydroxyl radical (OH) and decreases in the concentration of methane (CH<sub>4</sub>), thus impacting the climate system.&#160; Global production of NO<sub>x</sub>&#160;from lightning is uncertain by a factor of four. &#160;NO<sub>x</sub> production by lightning will be examined using NO<sub>2</sub> columns from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor Satellite with an overpass time of approximately 1330 LT and flash rates from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) on board the NOAA GOES-16 (75.2&#176; W) and GOES-17 (137.2&#176; W) satellites.&#160; Where there is overlap in coverage of the two GLM instruments, the greater of the two flash counts is used.&#160; Two approaches have been undertaken for this analysis:&#160; a series of case studies of storm systems over the United States, and a gridded analysis over the entire contiguous United States, Central America, northern South America, and surrounding oceans.&#160; A modified Copernicus Sentinel 5P TROPOMI NO<sub>2</sub> data set is used here for the case-study analysis to improve data coverage over deep convective clouds.&#160; In both approaches, only TROPOMI pixels with cloud fraction > 0.95 and cloud pressure < 500 hPa are used.&#160; The stratospheric column is removed from the total slant column, and the result is divided by air mass factors appropriate for deep convective clouds containing lightning NO<sub>x</sub> (LNO<sub>x</sub>).&#160; Case studies have been selected from deep convective systems over and near the United States during the warm seasons of 2018 and 2019.&#160; For each of these systems, NO<sub>x</sub> production per flash is determined by multiplying a TROPOMI-based estimate of the mean tropospheric column of LNO<sub>x</sub> over each system by the storm area and then dividing by a GLM-based estimate of the flashes that contribute to the column.&#160; In the large temporal and spatial scale analysis, the TROPOMI data are aggregated on a 0.5 x 0.5 degree grid and converted to moles LNO<sub>x</sub>*. &#160;GLM flash counts during the one-hour period before TROPOMI overpass are similarly binned. A tropospheric background of LNO<sub>x</sub>* is estimated from grid cells without lightning and subtracted from LNO<sub>x</sub>* in cells with lightning to yield an estimate of freshly produced lightning NO<sub>x</sub>, designated LNO<sub>x</sub>. &#160;Results of the two approaches are compared and discussed with respect to previous LNO<sub>x</sub> per flash estimates.</p><p>&#160;</p>