3D Cloud-Scale Model and Satellite Study of the Transport and Evolution of Lightning-Produced Nitrogen Oxides

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The objective of this project is to increase our understanding of the amounts, vertical distribution, transport, and chemical interactivity of nitrogen oxides (NOx) produced by lightning in the troposphere. The tool to be used in this investigation is the three-dimensional Storm Electrification Model (SEM) that incorporates a lightning parameterization scheme that is based on physical principles and minimizes the use of arbitrary parameters. The key feature of the parameterization is the calculation of the energy dissipation by the lightning flash, which is a primary factor in determination of the amount of NO that a flash produces. The model calculates the amount of NO produced along each simulated lightning channel and then distributes it according to the time-evolving flow field while chemically reacting with the other species included in the simulation. The main objectives of this work are to perform detailed NOx budget studies, to examine the difference between daytime and nighttime NOx chemistry as it may affect global and regional models, to use the energy-based scheme for calculating NOx and to compare the NO produced by cloud-to-ground and intracloud lightning, to examine the time evolution of the altitude distribution of NO produced by lightning to provide more accurate information for global models, to simulate storms from New Mexico (clean boundary layer) and Colorado (dirty boundary layer), where detailed observations have been obtained, to compare model results to the observations.