The recently developed method of chemical explosive mode (CEM) analysis (CEMA) was extended and employed to identify the detailed structure and stabilization mechanism of a turbulent lifted ethylene jet flame in heated coflowing air, obtained by a 3-D direct numerical simulation (DNS). It is shown that CEM is a critical feature in ignition as well as extinction phenomena, and as such the presence of a CEM can be utilized in general as a marker of explosive, or pre-ignition, mixtures. CEMA was first demonstrated in 0-D reactors including auto-ignition and perfectly stirred reactors, which are typical homogeneous ignition and extinction applications, respectively, and in 1-D premixed laminar flames of ethylene-air. It is then employed to analyze a 2-D spanwise slice extracted from the 3-D DNS data. The flame structure was clearly visualized with CEMA, while it is more difficult to discern from conventional computational diagnostic methods using individual species concentrations or temperature. Auto-ignition is identified as the dominant stabilization mechanism for the present turbulent lifted ethylene jet flame, and the contribution of dominant chemical species and reactions to the local CEM in different flame zones is quantified. A 22-species reduced mechanism with high accuracy for ethylene-air was developed from the detailed University of Southern California (USC) mechanism for the present simulation and analysis. (C) 2011 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.