EstimationofLightning-GeneratedNOxintheMainlandofChinaBasedonCloud-to-GroundLightningLocationDataQiLI1,2,FengxiaGUO*1,XiaoyuJU3,ZeLIU1,MingjunGAN1,KunZHANG1,andBinbinCAI11KeyLaboratoryofMeteorologicalDisaster,MinistryofEducation(KLME)/JointInternationalResearchLaboratoryofClimateandEnvironmentChange(ILCEC)/CollaborativeInnovationCenteronForecastandEvaluationofMeteorologicalDisasters(CIC-FEMD)/KeyLaboratoryforAerosol-Cloud-PrecipitationofChinaMeteorologicalAdministration,NanjingUniversityofInformationScience&Technology,Nanjing210044,China2HuangshiMeteorologicalBureau,Huangshi435002,China3Anhuimeteorologicaldisasterpreventioncenter,Hefei230061,China(Received18August2021;revised19April2022;accepted19May2022)ABSTRACTLightning-generatednitrogenoxides(LNOx)haveamajorinfluenceontheatmosphereandglobalclimatechange.Therefore,itisofgreatimportancetoobtainamoreaccurateestimationofLNOx.TheaimofthisstudyistoprovideareferencefortheaccurateestimationofthetotalLNOxinthemainlandofChinabasedoncloud-to-groundlightning(CG)locationdatafrom2014to2018.TheenergyofeachCGflashwasbasedonthenumberofreturnstrokesperCGflash,thepeakcurrentofeachreturnstroke,andtheassumedCGbreakdownvoltage.Theenergyofintracloudlightning(IC)wasbasedontheestimatedfrequenciesofICandtheassumedenergyofeachICflash.Combiningtheenergyoflightningandthenumberofnitricoxide(NO)moleculesproducedbyunitenergy(ρno),thetotalLNOxproductioninthemainlandofChinawasdetermined.TheLNOxinthemainlandofChinaestimatedinthisstudyisintherange(0.157–0.321)×109kgperyear[Tg(N)yr–1],whichisonthehighendofotherscholars’works.Negativecloud-to-groundlightning(NCG)flashesproducethemostmolesofNOx,whilepositivecloud-to-groundlightning(PCG)flashesproducetheleasttotalmolesofNOx.ThebreakdownvoltageofPCGisgreaterthanthatofICorNCG,whilethelatterhasagreateroutputofLNOx.Keywords:cloud-to-groundlightninglocation,lightningpeakcurrent,lightningbreakdownvoltage,nitrogenoxide(NOx)Citation:Li,Q.,F.X.Guo,X.Y.Ju,Z.Liu,M.J.Gan,K.Zhang,andB.B.Cai,2023:Estimationo...
