Relationship between lightning activity and tropospheric nitrogen dioxide and the estimation of lightning-produced nitrogen oxides over China

Abstract

To better understand the relationship between lightning activity and nitrogen oxides (NO X ) in the troposphere and to estimate lightning-produced NO X (LNO X ) production in China more precisely, spatial and temporal distributions of vertical column densities of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2 VCDs) and lightning activity were analyzed using satellite measurements. The results showed that the spatial distribution of lightning activity is greater in the east than in the west of China, as with NO2 VCDs. However, the seasonal and annual variation between lightning and NO2 density show different trends in the east and west. The central Tibetan Plateau is sparsely populated without modern industry, and NO2 VCDs across the plateau are barely affected by anthropogenic sources. The plateau is an ideal area to study LNO X . By analyzing 15 years of satellite data from that region, it was found that lightning density is in strong agreement with annual, spatial and seasonal variations of NO2 VCDs, with a correlation coefficient of 0.79 from the linear fit. Combining Beirle’s method and the linear fit equation, LNO X production in the Chinese interior was determined to be 0.07 (0.02–0.27) TgN yr−1 for 1997–2012, within the range of 0.016–0.384 TgN yr−1 from previous estimates.