- A41D-05: Observations of Lightning NOx Production from High-temporal Resolution TEMPO Case Studies over the United States
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Board 0958‚ 272-273NOLA CC
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Dale Allen, University of Maryland College Park (First Author, Presenting Author)
Kenneth Pickering, NASA Goddard Space Flight Cent
Eric Bucsela, Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
Jeff Lapierre, AEM
Pam Wales, University of Maryland College Park
Caroline Nowlan, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Katrina Virts, University of Alabama in Huntsville
Lightning produces nitrogen oxides (NOx) as the extreme temperatures within lightning channels break apart molecular nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2) . NOx produced by lightning (LNOx) plays an important role in determining mid- and upper-tropospheric amounts of the hydroxyl radical (OH), the atmosphere’s cleanser; methane (CH4), an especially potent greenhouse gas; and ozone (O3), a greenhouse gas and pollutant. On the afternoons of June 19, 20, and 24th of 2025, high temporal resolution (10-minutes) observations of NO2 were obtained over the eastern United States by TEMPO, an instrument aboard a geostationary satellite. The days were chosen several days in advance based on forecast thunderstorm activity and outflow regions. In this study, the amount of NOx produced per lightning flash will be estimated using these NO2 columns over thunderstorms and ten-minute flash counts from a Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) aboard a weather satellite and the ground-based Earth Networks Total Lightning Network (ENTLN). The high temporal resolution was critical for good results because the lifetime of individual thunderstorms is short (~20-30 minutes), their direction erratic, and their flash rate variable. The flash rate is important because the amount of NOx produced per flash is believed to vary with flash rate.
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