Modeling of the global distribution and chemical effects of Blue Jets

In 1995, Wescott et al. [1, 2] discovered the existence of upward propagating conical shaped jets in the ranges of altitudes between 15 km and 25 km. Later in year 2002, Pasko et al. [3] reported another type of upward propagating jets that reached the ionosphere. These upward propagating discharges were later called Blue Jets and Gigantic Jets, two types of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) that can propagate in the range of altitudes between 15 km and 40 km in the case of Blue Jets, and between 15 km and 90 km in the case of Giant Jets.

Tropospheric lightning activity can influence the chemistry of the lower atmosphere producing significant amounts of some important species, such as NO_x [4, 5]. Similarly, some TLEs could have a non-negligible impact in the chemistry of the upper troposphere, lower stratosphere and mesosphere [6]-[10].

In this contribution, we introduce and describe for the first time three different types of global parameterization of Blue Jets developed under different physical assumptions. In order to investigate the global occurrence rate of Blue Jets and their global chemical impact we have used the Whole Atmospheric Community Climate Model (WACCM4) where different lightning parameterizations have been implemented covering temporal scenarios ranging from 1 year up to 10 years.

We will show in the poster the differences obtained when running three Blue Jet parameterizations with different lightning parameterizations.

The combined use of lightning and Blue Jet parameterizations allow us to predict the geographical and seasonal chemical impact of Blue Jets and to compare with available observations.

References:

[1] Wescott, E. M. et al. (1995), GRL, 22, 1209.

[2] Wescott, E. M. et al. (1996), GRL, 23, 2153.

[3] Pasko, V. P. et al. (2002), Nature, 416, 152.

[4] Schumann, U., and H. Huntrieser (2007), ACP, 7, 3823.

[5] Huntrieser, H. et al. (2016), JGR-Atm, 121(11), 6638-6668.

[6] Sentman, D. D. et al. (2008), JGR-Atm, 113, D11,112.

[7] Gordillo-Vázquez, F. J. (2008), JPD-AP, 41(23), 234, 016.

[8] Arnone, E., et al. (2014), JGR-Atm, 119(11), 6958-6970.

[9] Winkler, H., and J. Notholt (2015), JASTP, 122, 75.

[10] Pérez-Invernón F.J. et al. (2018), JGR-Atm, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JD028235