Distribution of Lightning activity and NO2 columns by satellite observations over Tibetan Plateau and estimation of lightning-generated NO X in China

As a significant natural source of NOX, lightning produced NOX (LNOX) controls the formation of tropospheric ozone and has impact on the oxidizing capacity of the troposphere. It is worth exploring for a better understanding of the relationship between lightning activities and LNOX in troposphere. Compared with other areas of China, it is found that the selected region of Tibetan Plateau is an ideal area to study LNOX. In this paper, we analyze monthly means satellite data of Tibetan Plateau, which are obtained through Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) and The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment 2(GOME-2). The results indicate that the spatial and temporal distribution of lightning density and tropospheric NO2 are quite in agreement, and the correlation coefficient between them is 0.84 by linear fitting. LNOX production in China is evaluated to 0.15(0.03~0.38)Tg(N)/y which is based on Beirle's estimation method. The result is helpful to better recognize the important role of lightning on climate change in China.