Three-Dimensional (3D) Modeling and Observational Studies of Lightning-Produced Nitric Oxides

该项目继续并扩展了过去对雷暴中NOx（活性氮氧化物：一氧化氮，NO和二氧化氮，NO2的总和）形成的研究，使用现场观测和数值风暴模拟相结合的方法来更好地估计闪电产生的氮氧化物以及随后在雷雨云中的传输。这项工作将使人们更好地了解由闪电产生的氧化氮在雷暴中是如何分布的，并受到随后化学反应的影响。该项目包括建模和现场测量，明确的云尺度建模，以解释云内闪电放电的几个关键过程，这些过程受飞机测量的气象参数和电活性对流云单元内的NO的限制。本研究的更广泛影响包括模型的发展，这将提高云尺度模型的鲁棒性和代表性，这些模型用于模拟和量化大型电活性对流风暴对光化学活性氧化剂的产生和再分配的影响，特别强调进一步限制高度不确定的全球氮氧化物预算——这是全球气候的一个重要考虑因素。该项目包括研究生的研究训练，研究结果将用于教学。

This project continues and extends upon past studies investigating NOx (reactive nitrogen oxides: the sum of nitric oxide, NO, and nitrogen dioxide, NO2) formation in thunderstorms, using a combination of in situ observations and numerical storm simulations to gain a better estimate of nitrogen oxides production by lightning and subsequent transport throughout the thundercloud. The work will result in a better understanding of how reactive oxidized nitrogen is distributed within thunderstorms as it is generated by lightning and affected by subsequent chemical reactions. The project involves modeling and field measurements, explicit cloud-scale modeling to account for several critical processes of the in-cloud lightning discharge constrained by aircraft measurements of meteorological parameters and NO within the electrically active convective cloud cell. Broader impacts of this research include model developments that will improve performance in terms of robustness and representativeness for cloud-scale models used to simulate and quantify the effect of large electrically-active convective storms on the production and redistribution of photochemically active oxidants, with particular emphasis on further constraining the highly uncertain global NOx budget - an important consideration with regard to global climate. The project includes graduate student research training and results from the study will be used in teaching.