SOFT-IO-LI: a new tool merging space and ground based lightning observations and aircraft NOx measurements.

<p>SOFT-IO-LI is a new tool merging space and ground based lightning observations and aircraft NOx measurements to provide a database of new parameters characterizing lightning-NOx air masses observed at the global scale, to the scientific community.</p><p>The tool takes lightning-NOx air masses measured by IAGOS (In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System) a European Research Infrastructure for global observations of atmospheric composition using commercial aircraft. FLEXPART the Lagrangian transport and dispersion model is used, together with ERA5 reanalysis weather data from ECMWF, to perform a backward trajectory of these air masses, resulting in hourly mass residence times for lightning-NOx particles for the days prior to the flight measurements.</p><p>We will present, for IAGOS transatlantic flights, the comparison of these mass residence times with ground based NLDN (National Lightning Detection Network) and space based GLM (Global Lightning Mapper) lightning observations, as well as with ABI (Advanced Baseline Imager) cloud data. We will show that SOFT-IO-LI is capable of relating lightning events and chemical species observed in situ, in order to determine characteristics of the different lightning-related air masses.</p>