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Recent Results from Studies of Electric Discharges in the Mesosphere

Upper atmospheric lightning is a potentially important source of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere. Arnold’s contribution was to lead a small team to model the mechanisms whereby the regional and global climate system could be affected by this phenomenon. We were able to demonstrate that under certain seasonal conditions, relatively modest levels of lightning were able to generate significant amounts of nitrogen dioxide which in turn would react with ozone and hence affect the energetics and transport processes of the atmosphere. Arnold also contributed to the work linking dynamical coupling of the stratosphere to the troposphere.