Evaluation of Satellite‐Based Lightning NO_<i>x</i> Columns Using In‐Cloud Aircraft Measurements

Abstract Lightning is the largest source of NO x in the upper troposphere, where it affects the distributions of tropospheric ozone, hydroxyl radical (OH), and methane. In this study, ozone monitoring instrument (OMI)‐based LNO x columns are evaluated using aircraft‐based columns from case studies during the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3), the Tropical Composition, Cloud, and Climate Coupling (TC 4 ), and African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) campaigns. This is the first time OMI LNO x column amounts have been evaluated using in situ data from aircraft profiles. For each case study, aircraft transects of the storm anvils were completed near the time of the OMI satellite overpass, allowing for direct comparison of satellite‐retrieved and aircraft‐sampled LNO x columns from the cloud top to the OMI optical centroid pressure. These comparisons were used to assess uncertainties in the satellite‐based columns. Differences between the aircraft and mean OMI LNO x column amounts varied with location and flash density. The DC3 and TC 4 cases resulted in OMI column amounts 38%–56% less than the aircraft, while for the AMMA case, the OMI column was 20%–30% larger than the aircraft column. These differences are consistent but slightly larger than the 36% uncertainty estimated for the satellite retrieval method. Additionally, mean LNO x production efficiency (PE) was determined with values ranging from 52 to 691 mol/flash. These findings lend support for on‐going LNO x PE estimates using OMI, TROPOMI, TEMPO, GEMS, and Sentinel‐4 data and show the need for additional aircraft profiles to further reduce uncertainties.