Research on NOx Production in Lightning

  • Barth MC, Kim SW, Wang C, Pickering, KE et al. Cloud-scale model intercomparison of chemical constituent transport in deep convection ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS 7 (18): 4709-4731 2007.

  • Barth MC, Kim SW, Skamarock WC, Pickering KE, et al. Simulations of the redistribution of formaldehyde, formic acid, and peroxides in the 10 July 1996 Stratospheric-Tropospheric Experiment: Radiation, Aerosols, and Ozone deep convection storm JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES 112 (D13): Art. No. D13310 JUL 12 2007.

  • Thompson AM, Stone JB, Witte JC, Pickering KE, et al. Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment Ozonesonde Network Study (IONS) 2004: 2. Tropospheric ozone budgets and variability over northeastern North America JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES 112 (D12): Art. No. D12S13 MAY 15 2007.

  • Ott LE, Pickering KE, Stenchikov GL, et al. Effects of lightning NOx production during the 21 July European Lightning Nitrogen Oxides Project storm studied with a three-dimensional cloud-scale chemical transport model JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES 112 (D5): Art. No. D05307 MAR 14 2007

  • Bertram TH, Perring AE, Wooldridge PJ, Pickering KE, et al. Direct measurements of the convective recycling of the upper troposphere SCIENCE 315 (5813): 816-820 FEB 9 2007.

    STERAO-A and CRYSTAL-FACE:

    We participated in a Colorado-based field experiment (STERAO-A) and Florida-based CRYSRAL-FACE designed to study convective transport of trace gases and to study the production of NOx by lightning. We have developed a lightning NOx algorithm for the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble Model. Use of the model in conjunction with NOx mixing ratios measured by aircraft in the anvils of the STERAO-A thunderstorms has allowed us to estimate the amount of NO produced per flash. In previous work we used the cloud model to determine the shape of the vertical profile of lightning NOx at the end of a thunderstorm. These profiles are being applied in lightning NOx parameterizations in regional and global models.

  • Pickering, K. E., Y. Wang, W.-K. Tao, C. Price, and J.-F. Mueller, Vertical distributions of lightning NOx for use in regional and global chemical transport models, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 31,203-31,216, 1998.

  • DeCaria, A. J., K. E. Pickering, G. L. Stenchikov, J. R. Scala, J. L. Stith, J. E. Dye, B. A. Ridley, and P. Laroche, A cloud-scale model study of lightning-generated NOx in an individual thunderstorm during STERAO-A, J. Geophys. Res., 105(D9), 11601-11616, 2000 .

  • Jeker D. P., Pfister L., Thompson A. M., Pickering K. E., et al., Measurements of nitrogen oxides at the tropopause: Attribution to convection and correlation with lightning J. Geophys. Res. 105(D3), 3679-3700, 2000.

    Collaboration with the Physics Department

    Lightning is a major source of nitric oxide (NO) in remote areas of the atmosphere. Laboratory investigations in collaboration with colleagues in the Department of Physics have provided insight into the dependence of this production on energy, current, and pressure.

  • Nitric Oxide Production by Simulated Lightning: Dependence on Current, Energy, and Pressure, Y. Wang, A. W. DeSilva, G. C. Goldenbaum, and R. R. Dickerson, J. Geophys. Res., 103(15), 19,149-19,159, 1998. Full paper Downloadable version

    Last revised December 24, 2007.