A model of the ion chemistry of electrified convection

Electrified convection provides a unique setting for atmospheric chemistry. While the chemistry of lightning is sometimes thought of as predominantly the chem-istry of the hot (0 30, 000K) lightning channel, the large radial electric fields (>breakdown strength of air) surrounding the lightning channel result in high ion and electron production rates in the "corona sheath". Additionally, the high-temperature lightning channel releases large amounts of short-wavelength, ionizing, UV radiation (,,max, 100nm) that is ab-sorbed in the surrounding region. The relative volumes of the hot lightning channel and the surrounding corona sheath are also noteworthy. If a typical lightning channel has a radius of a few centimeters and the surrounding corona sheath is a few tens of meters then the ratio of the volume of the corona sheath to that of the lightning channel is 106: 1. The fate of the highly reactive, charged products formed outside of the hot chan-nel determine, in part, the net chemical effect of electrified convection. These products can dominate over the hot-channel chemistry and alter the local concentrations of all the major chemical families considered in standard photochemical studies. Additionally, it is of inter