Studies of NO2 from Lightning and Convective Uplifting using GOME Data

The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) observes back scattered upwelling radiance from the atmosphere and the extra terrestrial solar irradiance between 240 and 790 nm. Inversion of the data yields the total atmospheric columns of atmospheric trace constituents (gases, aerosol and cloud). The Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) is an instrument aboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite measuring lightning flashes. The objectives of this study have been to investigate the relative contribution of lightning and convective uplifting of pollutants from the boundary layer to the amount of NO₂ above clouds, using GOME and LIS data. The first results of a case study, a thunderstorm nearby the coast of Madagascar, shows that the NO_X production by lightning for this thunderstorm is in the range of 1–4 x 1025 molecules per flash.