Model calculations of tropospheric ozone production potential following observed convective events

The profiles of CO, NO, O3, water vapor, and temperature, observed in 1985 during and after a series of convective events over rural areas of the south-central United States, were used to model the nonurban ozone production rates and to evaluate the effects of convective clouds on the tropospheric trace-gas chemistry. A comparison of trace-gas profiles measured in and around a large cumulonimbus during its dissipation showed that ozone production in the upper troposphere may be increased fourfold by convection relative to undisturbed air. The convective enhancement of O3 production for the entire tropospheric comlumn was found to be about 50 percent.