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A tropospheric ozone‐lightning climate feedback
Author(s) -
Toumi Ralf,
Haigh Joanna D.,
Law Kathy S.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/96gl00944
Subject(s) - troposphere , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , ozone , tropospheric ozone , lightning (connector) , northern hemisphere , climatology , radiative forcing , climate change , meteorology , geology , geography , physics , power (physics) , quantum mechanics , oceanography
Tropospheric ozone is an important greenhouse gas. In the upper troposphere one of the major sources of ozone are the nitrogen oxides produced by lightning [IPCC, 1995]. Recently it has been shown that the number of lightning flashes may be very sensitive to changes in the surface temperature [Williams, 1992]. Here we use a global two‐dimensional atmospheric model and find that for a warmer surface and constant lightning ozone decreases globally except for in the polluted Northern Hemisphere. However, a warming with increased lightning can more than offset this decrease. We find that for a 20% increase of lightning the global mean radiative forcing by tropospheric ozone is about +0.1 Wm −2 . There is therefore a possibility of a positive climate feedback mechanism. The implied sensitivity of ozone to lightning and temperature suggests a major uncertainty in quantifying anthropogenic perturbations of upper tropospheric ozone.