Observations of Lightning NOx Production From GOES-R Post Launch Test Field Campaign Flights

A primary goal of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-series Post Launch Test (GOES-R PLT) Field Campaign during spring 2017 was the performance evaluation of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) aboard the GOES-16 satellite. The NASA Goddard Geo-CAPE Airborne Simulator (GCAS), an ultra-violet visible spectrometer, piggybacked on the aircraft mission to allow continuous hyper-spectral measurements at high spectral and spatial resolutions simultaneously with optical lightning detection by the Fly's Eye GLM Simulator while overflying convective systems. NO2 columns retrieved from GCAS were used to estimate the moles of NOx produced per flash, referred to as lightning NOx production efficiency (LNOx PE) for convective systems over the United States and western Atlantic. The mean PE was determined to be 360 180 mol per flash for optically detected GLM flashes and 230 115 mol per flash for radio-wave detected Earth Networks Total Lightning Network flashes. These values span the commonly cited range of 100-500 mol per flash for midlatitude flashes. LNOx PE was found to be positively correlated with GLM flash multiplicity and flash optical energy but negatively correlated with flash density. The positive correlations provide encouragement for PE parameterizations in terms of flash energy or multiplicity. Observations during the GOES-R PLT field campaign provide a preview of the analysis that will be possible when continuous lightning detection is coupled with hourly NO2 columns from a geostationary instrument such as Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution. Plain Language Summary A goal of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-series Post Launch Test (GOES-R PLT) Field Campaign during spring 2017 was evaluation of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) aboard the GOES-16 satellite. The NASA Goddard Geo-CAPE Airborne Simulator (GCAS) piggybacked on the aircraft allowing for continuous column measurements of NO2, a member of the nitrogen oxide family (NOx) that is also an ozone precursor. NO2 columns from GCAS were used to estimate the moles of NOx produced per lightning flash for 10 convective systems over the United States and western Atlantic. The moles of NOx produced per flash was determined to be approximately 360 mol per flash for optically detected GLM flashes and 230 mol per flash for radio-wave detected Earth Networks Total Lightning Network flashes. These values span the commonly cited range of 100-500 mol per flash for midlatitude flashes. Observations during the GOES-R PLT field campaign provide a preview of the analysis that will be possible when continuous lightning detection is coupled with NO2 columns from a geostationary instrument such as Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution. Key Points NO2 columns from Goddard Geo-CAPE Airborne Simulator are used to estimate NOx production per flash NOx production by lightning detected by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper over the United States is found to equal 360 mol per flash NOx production per flash is positively correlated with flash multiplicity and optical energy but negatively correlated with flash density

Automated summary

The GOES-R PLT field campaign aimed to evaluate the performance of the GLM on the GOES-16 satellite. Using NO2 columns from GCAS, the moles of NOx produced per lightning flash was estimated. The results showed positive correlations between NOx production per flash and flash multiplicity and optical energy, but negative correlations with flash density.