Premium
Lightning: Estimates of the rates of energy dissipation and nitrogen fixation
Author(s) -
Borucki William J.,
Chameides William L.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg022i004p00363
Subject(s) - atmospheric electricity , dissipation , lightning (connector) , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , troposphere , meteorology , joule heating , flash (photography) , range (aeronautics) , physics , materials science , electric field , optics , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics , power (physics) , composite material
The global rate of production of atmospheric NO is given by the product of the lightning energy dissipation rate and the NO yield per joule of discharge. A value for the global average energy dissipation rate is derived from the energy per flash and the global average flash rate; the latter is determined from satellite observations. The energy per flash determined from the optical measurements is in excellent agreement with that determined from measurements of electrical field changes; both give 4 × 10 8 J per flash. For a global flash rate of 100 s −1 , the global average energy dissipation rate is estimated to be 4 × 10 10 W; however, the uncertainty in this parameter is approximately a factor of 3. The NO yield is estimated to be (9 ± 2) × 10 16 molecules/J, a value in good agreement with numerous other theoretically and experimentally derived yields. The production of NO from lightning is thus estimated to be 2.6 × 10 9 kg N yr −1 with a range caused by uncertainties of (0.8–8) × 10 9 kg N yr −1 . Although lightning is a small source of fixed nitrogen to the biosphere, it appears to represent a major source of atmospheric NO to the remote troposphere.