New data links thunderstorms to climate via their impacts 
on aerosols, ozone, and water vapor in the stratosphere.The Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) field campaign was conducted over a broad area of the central US during May-June 2012. Analyses of DC3 data have shown that thunderstorms affect the composition of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere region by transporting air rich in water vapor, volatile organic compounds, and aerosols from near the Earth’s surface to the UTLS, by producing nitrogen oxides from lightning, and by causing mixing between the troposphere and stratosphere.
Barth, M and Zhang, C (2016), Connecting thunderstorms and climate through ozone, Eos.
Photo Credit: NASA/Frank Batteas
See the UTLS Observation Workshop, jointly organised by the Global Atmosphere Watch Programme (GAW), Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) and Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate (SPARC).