Evaluation of lightning-induced tropospheric ozone enhancements observed by ozone lidar and simulated by WRF/Chem

Wang, Lihua; Follette-Cook, M. B.; Newchurch, M.; Pickering, Kenneth; Pour‐Biazar, Arastoo; Kuang, Shi; Koshak, William J.; Peterson, Harold

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.05.054

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…Simulations shown are described by Murray et al [102] most lightning NO x studies have largely ignored the surface. Conversely, regional air quality models used for chemical forecasts and policy studies historically have not had any lightning NO x emissions at all, and are only just beginning to implement the capability to do so [3,66,71,168].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Lightning NO x and Impacts on Air Quality

2016

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Lightning generates relatively large but uncertain quantities of nitrogen oxides (NO x ), critical precursors for ozone and hydroxyl radical (OH), the primary tropospheric oxidants. Lightning NO x strongly influences background ozone and OH due to high ozone production efficiencies in the free troposphere, effecting small but non-negligible contributions to surface pollutant concentrations. Lightning globally contributes 3-4 ppbv of simulated annual-mean policy-relevant background (PRB) surface ozone, comprised of local, regional, and hemispheric components, and up to 18 ppbv during individual events. Feedbacks via methane may counter some of these effects on decadal time scales. Lightning contributes ∼1 % to annual-mean surface particulate matter, as a direct precursor and by promoting faster oxidation of other precursors. Lightning also ignites wildfires and contributes to nitrogen deposition. Urban pollution influences lightning itself, with implications for regional lightning-NO x production and feedbacks on downwind surface pollution. How lightning emissions will change in a warming world remains uncertain.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Lightning NO x and Impacts on Air Quality

2016

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“…While in the upper troposphere, besides this chemical sink effect, the negative correlation between ozone and water vapor results from the physical Conversely, water vapor can be seen as a proxy for convection or clouds under certain circumstances. The positive correlation between ozone and water vapor could be observed during the convective transport of ozone or its precursors from the polluted PBL (Dickerson et al, 1987), or when the lightning-generated NO x is significant (DeCaria et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2015).…”

Section: Correlation Among Tropospheric Ozone Water Vapor and Tempementioning

confidence: 99%

Ozone Variability and Anomalies Observed During SENEX and SEAC⁴RS Campaigns in 2013

et al. 2017

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Tropospheric ozone variability occurs because of multiple forcing factors including surface emission of ozone precursors, stratosphere‐to‐troposphere transport (STT), and meteorological conditions. Analyses of ozonesonde observations made in Huntsville, AL, during the peak ozone season (May to September) in 2013 indicate that ozone in the planetary boundary layer was significantly lower than the climatological average, especially in July and August when the Southeastern United States (SEUS) experienced unusually cool and wet weather. Because of a large influence of the lower stratosphere, however, upper tropospheric ozone was mostly higher than climatology, especially from May to July. Tropospheric ozone anomalies were strongly anticorrelated (or correlated) with water vapor (or temperature) anomalies with a correlation coefficient mostly about 0.6 throughout the entire troposphere. The regression slopes between ozone and temperature anomalies for surface up to midtroposphere are within 3.0–4.1 ppbv K−1. The occurrence rates of tropospheric ozone laminae due to STT are ≥50% in May and June and about 30% in July, August, and September suggesting that the stratospheric influence on free‐tropospheric ozone could be significant during early summer. These STT laminae have a mean maximum ozone enhancement over the climatology of 52 ± 33% (35 ± 24 ppbv) with a mean minimum relative humidity of 2.3 ± 1.7%.

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“…The accuracy of the system has been discussed in previous studies and Lidar measurement precision is estimated to be ±10% in the lower troposphere and ±20% in the upper troposphere [15,16]. Data from the UAH TOLNet lidar system is publically available [14] and has been used to examine atmospheric chemistry relevant topics such as air pollution transport, nocturnal O 3 enhancements, stratosphere-troposphere exchange, boundary layer pollution entrainment, wildfire impacts on O 3 , and lightning NO x generated O 3 (e.g., [17][18][19]). During this study we evaluated all UAH TOLNet observations for the month of June 2013 to identify anomalous O 3 lamina (see Section 3.1).…”

Section: Tolnet Ozone Lidar Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Summer-Time Ozone Enhancement Events in the Southeast United States

et al. 2016

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This study evaluates source attribution of ozone (O 3 ) in the southeast United States (US) within O 3 lamina observed by the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet) system during June 2013. This research applies surface-level and airborne in situ data and chemical transport model simulations (GEOS-Chem) in order to quantify the impact of North American anthropogenic emissions, wildfires, lightning NO x , and long-range/stratospheric transport on the observed O 3 lamina. During the summer of 2013, two anomalous O 3 layers were observed: (1) a nocturnal near-surface enhancement and (2) a late evening elevated (3-6 km above ground level) O 3 lamina. A "brute force" zeroing method was applied to quantify the impact of individual emission sources and transport pathways on the vertical distribution of O 3 during the two observed lamina. Results show that the nocturnal O 3 enhancement on 12 June 2013 below 3 km was primarily due to wildfire emissions and the fact that daily maximum anthropogenic emission contributions occurred during these night-time hours. During the second case study it was predicted that above average contributions from long-range/stratospheric transport was largely contributing to the O 3 lamina observed between 3 and 6 km on 29 June 2013. Other models, remote-sensing observations, and ground-based/airborne in situ data agree with the source attribution predicted by GEOS-Chem simulations. Overall, this study demonstrates the dynamic atmospheric chemistry occurring in the southeast US and displays the various emission sources and transport processes impacting O 3 enhancements at different vertical levels of the troposphere.

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Evaluation of lightning-induced tropospheric ozone enhancements observed by ozone lidar and simulated by WRF/Chem

Cited by 14 publications

References 40 publications

Lightning NO x and Impacts on Air Quality

Lightning NO x and Impacts on Air Quality

Ozone Variability and Anomalies Observed During SENEX and SEAC⁴RS Campaigns in 2013

Evaluating Summer-Time Ozone Enhancement Events in the Southeast United States

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Evaluation of lightning-induced tropospheric ozone enhancements observed by ozone lidar and simulated by WRF/Chem

Cited by 14 publications

References 40 publications

Lightning NO x and Impacts on Air Quality

Lightning NO x and Impacts on Air Quality

Ozone Variability and Anomalies Observed During SENEX and SEAC4RS Campaigns in 2013

Evaluating Summer-Time Ozone Enhancement Events in the Southeast United States

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Product

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Ozone Variability and Anomalies Observed During SENEX and SEAC⁴RS Campaigns in 2013