Articles | Volume 26, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-14277-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-14277-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
12 Oct 2026
Research article |
| 12 Oct 2026
| 12 Oct 2026
Characterizing lightning NOx production in the Ebro Valley with meteosat 12 LI and LMA observations
Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Solar System Department, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA), CSIC, PO Box 3004, 18080 Granada, Spain
Francisco J. Gordillo-Vázquez
Solar System Department, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA), CSIC, PO Box 3004, 18080 Granada, Spain
Oscar van der Velde
Lightning Research Group, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Terrassa, Spain
Joan Montanyà
Lightning Research Group, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Terrassa, Spain
Jesús Alberto López Trujillo
Lightning Research Group, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Terrassa, Spain
Nicolau Pineda
Meteorological Service of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
Diego Loyola
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Methodik der Fernerkundung, Wessling, Germany
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Methodik der Fernerkundung, Wessling, Germany
Christoph Knote
Chair of Model-Based Environmental Exposure Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany
Alexandre O. Fierro
Metocean Team, I&E Engineering, BP Exploration and Operating Company, Ltd., Sunbury, UK
Heidi Huntrieser
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
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Carlo Arosio, Viktoria Sofieva, Andrea Orfanoz-Cheuquelaf, Alexei Rozanov, Klaus-Peter Heue, Diego Loyola, Edward Malina, Ryan M. Stauffer, David Tarasick, Roeland Van Malderen, Jerry R. Ziemke, and Mark Weber
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3247–3265, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3247-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3247-2025, 2025
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Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón, Francisco J. Gordillo-Vázquez, Heidi Huntrieser, Patrick Jöckel, and Eric J. Bucsela
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5557–5575, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5557-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5557-2025, 2025
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Pascal Hedelt, Jens Reichardt, Felix Lauermann, Benjamin Weiß, Nicolas Theys, Alberto Redondas, Africa Barreto, Omaira Garcia, and Diego Loyola
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Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6345–6367, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6345-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6345-2024, 2024
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Sora Seo, Pieter Valks, Ronny Lutz, Klaus-Peter Heue, Pascal Hedelt, Víctor Molina García, Diego Loyola, Hanlim Lee, and Jhoon Kim
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6163–6191, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6163-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6163-2024, 2024
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10225–10243, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10225-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10225-2024, 2024
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Tim Trent, Marc Schröder, Shu-Peng Ho, Steffen Beirle, Ralf Bennartz, Eva Borbas, Christian Borger, Helene Brogniez, Xavier Calbet, Elisa Castelli, Gilbert P. Compo, Wesley Ebisuzaki, Ulrike Falk, Frank Fell, John Forsythe, Hans Hersbach, Misako Kachi, Shinya Kobayashi, Robert E. Kursinski, Diego Loyola, Zhengzao Luo, Johannes K. Nielsen, Enzo Papandrea, Laurence Picon, Rene Preusker, Anthony Reale, Lei Shi, Laura Slivinski, Joao Teixeira, Tom Vonder Haar, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9667–9695, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9667-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9667-2024, 2024
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In a warmer future, water vapour will spend more time in the atmosphere, changing global rainfall patterns. In this study, we analysed the performance of 28 water vapour records between 1988 and 2014. We find sensitivity to surface warming generally outside expected ranges, attributed to breakpoints in individual record trends and differing representations of climate variability. The implication is that longer records are required for high confidence in assessing climate trends.
Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón, Francisco J. Gordillo-Vázquez, Alejandro Malagón-Romero, and Patrick Jöckel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3577–3592, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3577-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3577-2024, 2024
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Sprites are electrical discharges that occur in the upper atmosphere. Recent modelling and observational data suggest that they may have a measurable impact on atmospheric chemistry. We incorporate both the occurrence rate of sprites and their production of chemical species into a chemistry–climate model. While our results indicate that sprites have a minimal global influence on atmospheric chemistry, they underscore their noteworthy importance at a regional scale.
Bianca Zilker, Andreas Richter, Anne-Marlene Blechschmidt, Peter von der Gathen, Ilias Bougoudis, Sora Seo, Tim Bösch, and John Philip Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9787–9814, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9787-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9787-2023, 2023
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During Arctic spring, near-surface ozone is depleted by bromine released from salty sea ice and/or snow-covered areas under certain meteorological conditions. To study this ozone depletion and the prevailing meteorological conditions, two ozone data sets from Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, have been evaluated. We found that during ozone depletion events lower pressure over the Barents Sea and higher pressure in the Icelandic Low area led to a transport of cold polar air from the north to Ny-Ålesund.
Bin Zhou and Christoph Knote
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2023-111, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2023-111, 2023
Publication in NHESS not foreseen
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This study estimates the loss of life caused by wildfires in the eastern and central Mediterranean basin in summer 2021. We used a computer model to simulate concentrations of air pollutants emitted from wildfires and estimated the resulting excess human deaths based on the most relevant evidence from literature. We found that wildfire-caused air pollution accounted for several hundred excess deaths. We estimate the effects of ozone to exceed those of particles created by wildfires.
Gregor Köcher, Tobias Zinner, and Christoph Knote
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6255–6269, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6255-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6255-2023, 2023
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Polarimetric radar observations of 30 d of convective precipitation events are used to statistically analyze 5 state-of-the-art microphysics schemes of varying complexity. The frequency and area of simulated heavy-precipitation events are in some cases significantly different from those observed, depending on the microphysics scheme. Analysis of simulated particle size distributions and reflectivities shows that some schemes have problems reproducing the correct particle size distributions.
Ka Lok Chan, Pieter Valks, Klaus-Peter Heue, Ronny Lutz, Pascal Hedelt, Diego Loyola, Gaia Pinardi, Michel Van Roozendael, François Hendrick, Thomas Wagner, Vinod Kumar, Alkis Bais, Ankie Piters, Hitoshi Irie, Hisahiro Takashima, Yugo Kanaya, Yongjoo Choi, Kihong Park, Jihyo Chong, Alexander Cede, Udo Frieß, Andreas Richter, Jianzhong Ma, Nuria Benavent, Robert Holla, Oleg Postylyakov, Claudia Rivera Cárdenas, and Mark Wenig
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1831–1870, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1831-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1831-2023, 2023
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This paper presents the theoretical basis as well as verification and validation of the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) daily and monthly level-3 products.
Jose V. Moris, Pedro Álvarez-Álvarez, Marco Conedera, Annalie Dorph, Thomas D. Hessilt, Hugh G. P. Hunt, Renata Libonati, Lucas S. Menezes, Mortimer M. Müller, Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón, Gianni B. Pezzatti, Nicolau Pineda, Rebecca C. Scholten, Sander Veraverbeke, B. Mike Wotton, and Davide Ascoli
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1151–1163, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1151-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1151-2023, 2023
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This work describes a database on holdover times of lightning-ignited wildfires (LIWs). Holdover time is defined as the time between lightning-induced fire ignition and fire detection. The database contains 42 datasets built with data on more than 152 375 LIWs from 13 countries in five continents from 1921 to 2020. This database is the first freely-available, harmonized and ready-to-use global source of holdover time data, which may be used to investigate LIWs and model the holdover phenomenon.
Katerina Garane, Ka Lok Chan, Maria-Elissavet Koukouli, Diego Loyola, and Dimitris Balis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 57–74, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-57-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-57-2023, 2023
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In this work, 2.5 years of TROPOMI/S5P Total Column Water Vapor (TCWV) observations retrieved from the blue wavelength band are validated against co-located precipitable water measurements from NASA AERONET, which uses Cimel Sun photometers globally. Overall, the TCWV product agrees well on a global scale with the ground-based dataset (Pearson correl. coefficient 0.909) and has a mean relative bias of −2.7 ± 4.9 % with respect to the AERONET observations for moderate albedo and cloudiness.
Miriam Latsch, Andreas Richter, Henk Eskes, Maarten Sneep, Ping Wang, Pepijn Veefkind, Ronny Lutz, Diego Loyola, Athina Argyrouli, Pieter Valks, Thomas Wagner, Holger Sihler, Michel van Roozendael, Nicolas Theys, Huan Yu, Richard Siddans, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6257–6283, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6257-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6257-2022, 2022
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The article investigates different S5P TROPOMI cloud retrieval algorithms for tropospheric trace gas retrievals. The cloud products show differences primarily over snow and ice and for scenes under sun glint. Some issues regarding across-track dependence are found for the cloud fractions as well as for the cloud heights.
Klaus-Peter Heue, Diego Loyola, Fabian Romahn, Walter Zimmer, Simon Chabrillat, Quentin Errera, Jerry Ziemke, and Natalya Kramarova
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5563–5579, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5563-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5563-2022, 2022
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To retrieve tropospheric ozone column information, we subtract stratospheric column data of BASCOE from TROPOMI/S5P total ozone columns.
The new S5P-BASCOE data agree well with existing tropospheric data like OMPS-MERRA-2. The data are also compared to ozone soundings.
The tropospheric ozone columns show the expected temporal and spatial patterns. We will also apply the algorithm to future UV nadir missions like Sentinel 4 or 5 or to recent and ongoing missions like GOME_2 or OMI.
Pieternel F. Levelt, Deborah C. Stein Zweers, Ilse Aben, Maite Bauwens, Tobias Borsdorff, Isabelle De Smedt, Henk J. Eskes, Christophe Lerot, Diego G. Loyola, Fabian Romahn, Trissevgeni Stavrakou, Nicolas Theys, Michel Van Roozendael, J. Pepijn Veefkind, and Tijl Verhoelst
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10319–10351, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10319-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10319-2022, 2022
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Using the COVID-19 lockdown periods as an example, we show how Sentinel-5P/TROPOMI trace gas data (NO2, SO2, CO, HCHO and CHOCHO) can be used to understand impacts on air quality for regions and cities around the globe. We also provide information for both experienced and inexperienced users about how we created the data using state-of-the-art algorithms, where to get the data, methods taking meteorological and seasonal variability into consideration, and insights for future studies.
Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón, Heidi Huntrieser, Thilo Erbertseder, Diego Loyola, Pieter Valks, Song Liu, Dale J. Allen, Kenneth E. Pickering, Eric J. Bucsela, Patrick Jöckel, Jos van Geffen, Henk Eskes, Sergio Soler, Francisco J. Gordillo-Vázquez, and Jeff Lapierre
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3329–3351, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3329-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3329-2022, 2022
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Lightning, one of the major sources of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere, contributes to the tropospheric concentration of ozone and to the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere. In this work, we contribute to improving the estimation of lightning-produced nitrogen oxides in the Ebro Valley and the Pyrenees by using two different TROPOMI products and comparing the results.
Nicolau Pineda, Juan Carlos Peña, Xavier Soler, Montse Aran, and Núria Pérez-Zanón
Adv. Sci. Res., 19, 39–49, https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-19-39-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-19-39-2022, 2022
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Wildfire origins can be related to human activity or to natural phenomena, like lightning. Under favourable environmental conditions, lightning ignitions can develop into a fire. In the present study, we analyse the kind of weather that favours wildfires ignited by lightning in Catalonia. We have found that most fires occur under three types of weather. These results help to improve our understanding of lightning fires and are of great assistance to wildfire management agencies.
Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Diego G. Loyola, Christophe Lerot, and Michel Van Roozendael
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6861–6878, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6861-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6861-2022, 2022
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Monitoring the long-term evolution of ozone and the evaluation of trends is essential to assess the efficacy of the Montreal Protocol and its amendments. The first signs of recovery as a consequence of decreasing amounts of ozone-depleting substances have been reported, but the impact needs to be investigated in more detail. In the Southern Hemisphere significant positive trends were found, but in the Northern Hemisphere the expected increase is still not yet visible.
Mark Weber, Carlo Arosio, Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Vitali E. Fioletov, Stacey M. Frith, Jeannette D. Wild, Kleareti Tourpali, John P. Burrows, and Diego Loyola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6843–6859, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6843-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6843-2022, 2022
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Long-term trends in column ozone have been determined from five merged total ozone datasets spanning the period 1978–2020. We show that ozone recovery due to the decline in stratospheric halogens after the 1990s (as regulated by the Montreal Protocol) is evident outside the tropical region and amounts to half a percent per decade. The ozone recovery in the Northern Hemisphere is however compensated for by the negative long-term trend contribution from atmospheric dynamics since the year 2000.
Andreas Luther, Julian Kostinek, Ralph Kleinschek, Sara Defratyka, Mila Stanisavljević, Andreas Forstmaier, Alexandru Dandocsi, Leon Scheidweiler, Darko Dubravica, Norman Wildmann, Frank Hase, Matthias M. Frey, Jia Chen, Florian Dietrich, Jarosław Nȩcki, Justyna Swolkień, Christoph Knote, Sanam N. Vardag, Anke Roiger, and André Butz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5859–5876, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5859-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5859-2022, 2022
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Coal mining is an extensive source of anthropogenic methane emissions. In order to reduce and mitigate methane emissions, it is important to know how much and where the methane is emitted. We estimated coal mining methane emissions in Poland based on atmospheric methane measurements and particle dispersion modeling. In general, our emission estimates suggest higher emissions than expected by previous annual emission reports.
M. Dolores Andrés Hernández, Andreas Hilboll, Helmut Ziereis, Eric Förster, Ovid O. Krüger, Katharina Kaiser, Johannes Schneider, Francesca Barnaba, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Jörg Schmidt, Heidi Huntrieser, Anne-Marlene Blechschmidt, Midhun George, Vladyslav Nenakhov, Theresa Harlass, Bruna A. Holanda, Jennifer Wolf, Lisa Eirenschmalz, Marc Krebsbach, Mira L. Pöhlker, Anna B. Kalisz Hedegaard, Linlu Mei, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Yangzhuoran Liu, Ralf Koppmann, Hans Schlager, Birger Bohn, Ulrich Schumann, Andreas Richter, Benjamin Schreiner, Daniel Sauer, Robert Baumann, Mariano Mertens, Patrick Jöckel, Markus Kilian, Greta Stratmann, Christopher Pöhlker, Monica Campanelli, Marco Pandolfi, Michael Sicard, José L. Gómez-Amo, Manuel Pujadas, Katja Bigge, Flora Kluge, Anja Schwarz, Nikos Daskalakis, David Walter, Andreas Zahn, Ulrich Pöschl, Harald Bönisch, Stephan Borrmann, Ulrich Platt, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5877–5924, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5877-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5877-2022, 2022
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EMeRGe provides a unique set of in situ and remote sensing airborne measurements of trace gases and aerosol particles along selected flight routes in the lower troposphere over Europe. The interpretation uses also complementary collocated ground-based and satellite measurements. The collected data help to improve the current understanding of the complex spatial distribution of trace gases and aerosol particles resulting from mixing, transport, and transformation of pollution plumes over Europe.
Maria-Elissavet Koukouli, Konstantinos Michailidis, Pascal Hedelt, Isabelle A. Taylor, Antje Inness, Lieven Clarisse, Dimitris Balis, Dmitry Efremenko, Diego Loyola, Roy G. Grainger, and Christian Retscher
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5665–5683, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5665-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5665-2022, 2022
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Volcanic eruptions eject large amounts of ash and trace gases into the atmosphere. The use of space-borne instruments enables the global monitoring of volcanic SO2 emissions in an economical and risk-free manner. The main aim of this paper is to present its extensive verification, accomplished within the ESA S5P+I: SO2LH project, over major recent volcanic eruptions, against collocated space-borne measurements, as well as assess its impact on the forecasts provided by CAMS.
Gregor Köcher, Tobias Zinner, Christoph Knote, Eleni Tetoni, Florian Ewald, and Martin Hagen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1033–1054, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1033-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1033-2022, 2022
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We present a setup for systematic characterization of differences between numerical weather models and radar observations for convective weather situations. Radar observations providing dual-wavelength and polarimetric variables to infer information about hydrometeor shapes and sizes are compared against simulations using microphysics schemes of varying complexity. Differences are found in ice and liquid phase, pointing towards issues of some schemes in reproducing particle size distributions.
Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón, Heidi Huntrieser, Patrick Jöckel, and Francisco J. Gordillo-Vázquez
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1545–1565, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1545-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1545-2022, 2022
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This study reports the first parameterization of long-continuing-current lightning in a climate model. Long-continuing-current lightning is proposed to be the main precursor of lightning-ignited wildfires and sprites, a type of transient luminous event taking place in the mesosphere. This parameterization can significantly contribute to improving the implementation of wildfires in climate models.
Antje Inness, Melanie Ades, Dimitris Balis, Dmitry Efremenko, Johannes Flemming, Pascal Hedelt, Maria-Elissavet Koukouli, Diego Loyola, and Roberto Ribas
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 971–994, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-971-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-971-2022, 2022
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This paper describes the way that the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) produces forecasts of volcanic SO2. These forecasts are provided routinely every day. They are created by blending SO2 data from satellite instruments (TROPOMI and GOME-2) with the CAMS model. We show that the quality of the CAMS SO2 forecasts can be improved if additional information about the height of volcanic plumes is provided in the satellite data.
Dongwook Kim, Changmin Cho, Seokhan Jeong, Soojin Lee, Benjamin A. Nault, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Douglas A. Day, Jason C. Schroder, Jose L. Jimenez, Rainer Volkamer, Donald R. Blake, Armin Wisthaler, Alan Fried, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Sally E. Pusede, Samuel R. Hall, Kirk Ullmann, L. Gregory Huey, David J. Tanner, Jack Dibb, Christoph J. Knote, and Kyung-Eun Min
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 805–821, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-805-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-805-2022, 2022
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CHOCHO was simulated using a 0-D box model constrained by measurements during the KORUS-AQ mission. CHOCHO concentration was high in large cities, aromatics being the most important precursors. Loss path to aerosol was the highest sink, contributing to ~ 20 % of secondary organic aerosol formation. Our work highlights that simple CHOCHO surface uptake approach is valid only for low aerosol conditions and more work is required to understand CHOCHO solubility in high-aerosol conditions.
Debora Griffin, Chris A. McLinden, Enrico Dammers, Cristen Adams, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Carsten Warneke, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Kyle J. Zarzana, Jake P. Rowe, Rainer Volkamer, Christoph Knote, Natalie Kille, Theodore K. Koenig, Christopher F. Lee, Drew Rollins, Pamela S. Rickly, Jack Chen, Lukas Fehr, Adam Bourassa, Doug Degenstein, Katherine Hayden, Cristian Mihele, Sumi N. Wren, John Liggio, Ayodeji Akingunola, and Paul Makar
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7929–7957, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7929-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7929-2021, 2021
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Satellite-derived NOx emissions from biomass burning are estimated with TROPOMI observations. Two common emission estimation methods are applied, and sensitivity tests with model output were performed to determine the accuracy of these methods. The effect of smoke aerosols on TROPOMI NO2 columns is estimated and compared to aircraft observations from four different aircraft campaigns measuring biomass burning plumes in 2018 and 2019 in North America.
Christophe Lerot, François Hendrick, Michel Van Roozendael, Leonardo M. A. Alvarado, Andreas Richter, Isabelle De Smedt, Nicolas Theys, Jonas Vlietinck, Huan Yu, Jeroen Van Gent, Trissevgeni Stavrakou, Jean-François Müller, Pieter Valks, Diego Loyola, Hitoshi Irie, Vinod Kumar, Thomas Wagner, Stefan F. Schreier, Vinayak Sinha, Ting Wang, Pucai Wang, and Christian Retscher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7775–7807, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7775-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7775-2021, 2021
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Global measurements of glyoxal tropospheric columns from the satellite instrument TROPOMI are presented. Such measurements can contribute to the estimation of atmospheric emissions of volatile organic compounds. This new glyoxal product has been fully characterized with a comprehensive error budget, with comparison with other satellite data sets as well as with validation based on independent ground-based remote sensing glyoxal observations.
Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón, Heidi Huntrieser, Sergio Soler, Francisco J. Gordillo-Vázquez, Nicolau Pineda, Javier Navarro-González, Víctor Reglero, Joan Montanyà, Oscar van der Velde, and Nikos Koutsias
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17529–17557, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17529-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17529-2021, 2021
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Lightning-ignited fires tend to occur in remote areas and can spread significantly before suppression. Long continuing current (LCC) lightning, preferably taking place in dry thunderstorms, is believed to be the main precursor of lightning-ignited fires. We analyze fire databases of lightning-ignited fires in the Mediterranean basin and report the shared meteorological conditions of fire- and LCC-lightning-producing thunderstorms. These results can be useful to improve fire forecasting methods.
Silke Trömel, Clemens Simmer, Ulrich Blahak, Armin Blanke, Sabine Doktorowski, Florian Ewald, Michael Frech, Mathias Gergely, Martin Hagen, Tijana Janjic, Heike Kalesse-Los, Stefan Kneifel, Christoph Knote, Jana Mendrok, Manuel Moser, Gregor Köcher, Kai Mühlbauer, Alexander Myagkov, Velibor Pejcic, Patric Seifert, Prabhakar Shrestha, Audrey Teisseire, Leonie von Terzi, Eleni Tetoni, Teresa Vogl, Christiane Voigt, Yuefei Zeng, Tobias Zinner, and Johannes Quaas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17291–17314, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17291-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17291-2021, 2021
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The article introduces the ACP readership to ongoing research in Germany on cloud- and precipitation-related process information inherent in polarimetric radar measurements, outlines pathways to inform atmospheric models with radar-based information, and points to remaining challenges towards an improved fusion of radar polarimetry and atmospheric modelling.
Daan Hubert, Klaus-Peter Heue, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Tijl Verhoelst, Marc Allaart, Steven Compernolle, Patrick D. Cullis, Angelika Dehn, Christian Félix, Bryan J. Johnson, Arno Keppens, Debra E. Kollonige, Christophe Lerot, Diego Loyola, Matakite Maata, Sukarni Mitro, Maznorizan Mohamad, Ankie Piters, Fabian Romahn, Henry B. Selkirk, Francisco R. da Silva, Ryan M. Stauffer, Anne M. Thompson, J. Pepijn Veefkind, Holger Vömel, Jacquelyn C. Witte, and Claus Zehner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7405–7433, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7405-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7405-2021, 2021
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We assess the first 2 years of TROPOMI tropical tropospheric ozone column data. Comparisons to reference measurements by ozonesonde and satellite sensors show that TROPOMI bias (−0.1 to +2.3 DU) and precision (1.5 to 2.5 DU) meet mission requirements. Potential causes of bias and its spatio-temporal structure are discussed, as well as ways to identify sampling errors. Our analysis of known geophysical patterns demonstrates the improved performance of TROPOMI with respect to its predecessors.
Song Liu, Pieter Valks, Gaia Pinardi, Jian Xu, Ka Lok Chan, Athina Argyrouli, Ronny Lutz, Steffen Beirle, Ehsan Khorsandi, Frank Baier, Vincent Huijnen, Alkiviadis Bais, Sebastian Donner, Steffen Dörner, Myrto Gratsea, François Hendrick, Dimitris Karagkiozidis, Kezia Lange, Ankie J. M. Piters, Julia Remmers, Andreas Richter, Michel Van Roozendael, Thomas Wagner, Mark Wenig, and Diego G. Loyola
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7297–7327, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7297-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7297-2021, 2021
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In this work, an improved tropospheric NO2 retrieval algorithm from TROPOMI measurements over Europe is presented. The stratospheric estimation is implemented with correction for the dependency of the stratospheric NO2 on the viewing geometry. The AMF calculation is implemented using improved surface albedo, a priori NO2 profiles, and cloud correction. The improved tropospheric NO2 data show good correlations with ground-based MAX-DOAS measurements.
Nicolas Theys, Vitali Fioletov, Can Li, Isabelle De Smedt, Christophe Lerot, Chris McLinden, Nickolay Krotkov, Debora Griffin, Lieven Clarisse, Pascal Hedelt, Diego Loyola, Thomas Wagner, Vinod Kumar, Antje Innes, Roberto Ribas, François Hendrick, Jonas Vlietinck, Hugues Brenot, and Michel Van Roozendael
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16727–16744, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16727-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16727-2021, 2021
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We present a new algorithm to retrieve sulfur dioxide from space UV measurements. We apply the technique to high-resolution TROPOMI measurements and demonstrate the high sensitivity of the approach to weak SO2 emissions worldwide with an unprecedented limit of detection of 8 kt yr−1. This result has broad implications for atmospheric science studies dealing with improving emission inventories and identifying and quantifying missing sources, in the context of air quality and climate.
Cited articles
Allen, D., Pickering, K. E., Bucsela, E., Van Geffen, J., Lapierre, J., Koshak, W., and Eskes, H.: Observations of Lightning NOx Production From Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument Case Studies Over the United States, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 126, e2020JD034174, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034174, 2021a. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q
Allen, D. J. and Pickering, K. E.: Evaluation of lightning flash rate parameterizations for use in a global chemical transport model, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 107, ACH–15, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002066, 2002. a
Allen, D. J., Pickering, K. E., Bucsela, E., Krotkov, N., and Holzworth, R.: Lightning NOx production in the tropics as determined using OMI NO2 retrievals and WWLLN stroke data, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 124, 13498–13518, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029824, 2019. a, b
Allen, D. J., Pickering, K. E., Lamsal, L., Mach, D. M., Quick, M. G., Lapierre, J., Janz, S., Koshak, W., Kowalewski, M., and Blakeslee, R.: Observations of Lightning NOx Production From GOES R Post Launch Test Field Campaign Flights, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 126, e33769, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD033769, 2021b. a, b
Barth, M. C., Cantrell, C. A., Brune, W. H., et al.: The deep convective clouds and chemistry (DC3) field campaign, B. Am. Meteor. Soc., 96, 1281–1309, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00290.1, 2015. a
Beirle, S., Salzmann, M., Lawrence, M. G., and Wagner, T.: Sensitivity of satellite observations for freshly produced lightning NOx, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 1077–1094, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-1077-2009, 2009. a
Beirle, S., Huntrieser, H., and Wagner, T.: Direct satellite observation of lightning-produced NOx, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 10965–10986, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-10965-2010, 2010. a
Bližňák, V. and Sokol, Z.: First validation of the Lightning Imager aboard Meteosat Third Generation satellite with Earth Networks Total Lightning Network, Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs., 147, 105205, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2026.105205, 2026. a, b
Boccippio, D. J., Cummins, K. L., Christian, H. J., and Goodman, S. J.: Combined satellite-and surface-based estimation of the intracloud–cloud-to-ground lightning ratio over the continental United States, Mon. Weather Rev., 129, 108–122, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(2001)129<0108:CSASBE>2.0.CO;2, 2001. a
Bozóki, T., Mlynarczyk, J., Prácser, E., Kulak, A., Sátori, G., Füllekrug, M., and Williams, E.: Modeling the global electromagnetic resonance field produced by lightning discharges with a continuing current, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 130, e2025JD043989, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JD043989, 2025. a
Brasseur, G. P., Hauglustaine, D., Walters, S., Rasch, P., Müller, J.-F., Granier, C., and Tie, X.: MOZART, a global chemical transport model for ozone and related chemical tracers: 1. Model description, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 103, 28265–28289, https://doi.org/10.1029/98JD02397, 1998. a
Bruning, E. C. and MacGorman, D. R.: Theory and observations of controls on lightning flash size spectra, J. Atmos. Sci., 70, 4012–4029, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-12-0289.1, 2013. a
Bruning, E. C. and Thomas, R. J.: Lightning channel length and flash energy determined from moments of the flash area distribution, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 120, 8925–8940, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023766, 2015. a, b
Buchholz, R., Emmons, L., Tilmes, S., and Team, T.: CESM2. 1/CAM-chem instantaneous output for boundary conditions, UCAR/NCAR-Atmospheric chemistry observations and modeling Laboratory [data set], 10, https://doi.org/10.5065/NMP7-EP60, 2019. a, b
Bucsela, E. J., Krotkov, N. A., Celarier, E. A., Lamsal, L. N., Swartz, W. H., Bhartia, P. K., Boersma, K. F., Veefkind, J. P., Gleason, J. F., and Pickering, K. E.: A new stratospheric and tropospheric NO2 retrieval algorithm for nadir-viewing satellite instruments: applications to OMI, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 2607–2626, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2607-2013, 2013. a, b, c, d, e
Bucsela, E., Pickering, K., Allen, D., Loyola, D., Eskes, H., Veefkind, P., van Geffen, J., Koshak, W., and Krotkov, N.: Improved Lightning NOx Production Estimates Using TROPOMI and GLM Data, AGU Fall Meeting 2021, New Orleans, LA, 13–17 December 2021, A24E–07, https://studio.m-anage.com/agu/fm21/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/983228 (last access: 5 October 2026), 2021. a
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Short summary
Lightning is a major source of atmospheric pollutants. This study uses advanced satellite and ground-based data to show how lightning characteristics, such as length, brightness, and duration, affect the production of these pollutants in storms over Spain’s Ebro Valley.
Lightning is a major source of atmospheric pollutants. This study uses advanced satellite and...
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