Articles | Volume 19, issue 14
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9541-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9541-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
29 Jul 2019
Research article |
| 29 Jul 2019
| 29 Jul 2019
Sensitivity of GPS tropospheric estimates to mesoscale convective systems in West Africa
Institut de physique du globe de Paris, Université de Paris, CNRS, IGN, 75005 Paris, France
ENSG-Géomatique, IGN, 77455 Marne-la-Vallée, France
Olivier Bock
Institut de physique du globe de Paris, Université de Paris, CNRS, IGN, 75005 Paris, France
ENSG-Géomatique, IGN, 77455 Marne-la-Vallée, France
Françoise Guichard
CNRM, CNRS UMR 3589 and Météo-France, Toulouse, 31057 CEDEX 1, France
Related authors
Alvaro Santamaría-Gómez, Jean-Paul Boy, Florent Feriol, Médéric Gravelle, Sylvain Loyer, Samuel Nahmani, Joëlle Nicolas, José Luis García Pallero, Aurélie Panetier, Arnaud Pollet, and Pierre Sakic
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-223, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-223, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
SPOTGINS is a new cooperative of research groups producing a consistent and high-quality set of daily GNSS position and tropospheric delay time series. Each group processes a portion of the global station network using the same software, products, and corrections. These series allow for the understanding of small deformations of the Earth's surface at the millimeter level that include tectonics, earthquakes, ground subsidence, post-glacial rebound, hydrological loading, and volcanic deformation.
Alvaro Santamaría-Gómez, Jean-Paul Boy, Florent Feriol, Médéric Gravelle, Sylvain Loyer, Samuel Nahmani, Joëlle Nicolas, José Luis García Pallero, Aurélie Panetier, Arnaud Pollet, and Pierre Sakic
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-223, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-223, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
SPOTGINS is a new cooperative of research groups producing a consistent and high-quality set of daily GNSS position and tropospheric delay time series. Each group processes a portion of the global station network using the same software, products, and corrections. These series allow for the understanding of small deformations of the Earth's surface at the millimeter level that include tectonics, earthquakes, ground subsidence, post-glacial rebound, hydrological loading, and volcanic deformation.
Tanguy Jonville, Maurus Borne, Cyrille Flamant, Juan Cuesta, Olivier Bock, Pierre Bosser, Christophe Lavaysse, Andreas Fink, and Peter Knippertz
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3606, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3606, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Tropical waves structure the atmosphere. Four types of tropical waves (ER, Kelvin, MRG-TD1, and MRG-TD2) are studied using filters, satellite measurements, and in situ data from the Clouds-Atmosphere Dynamics-Dust Interaction in West Africa (CADDIWA) campaign held in September 2021 in Cabo Verde. ER waves impact temperature and humidity above 2500 m, MRG-TD1 around 3500 m, and MRG-TD2 around 2000 m. Interactions between these waves favor tropical cyclone formation.
Olivier Bock, Pierre Bosser, and Carl Mears
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5643–5665, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5643-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5643-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Integrated water vapour measurements are often compared for the calibration and validation of instruments or techniques. Measurements made at different altitudes must be corrected to account for the vertical variation of water vapour. This paper shows that the widely used empirical correction model has severe limitations that are overcome using the proposed model. The method is applied to the inter-comparison of GPS and satellite microwave radiometer data in a tropical mountainous area.
Bjorn Stevens, Sandrine Bony, David Farrell, Felix Ament, Alan Blyth, Christopher Fairall, Johannes Karstensen, Patricia K. Quinn, Sabrina Speich, Claudia Acquistapace, Franziska Aemisegger, Anna Lea Albright, Hugo Bellenger, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Kathy-Ann Caesar, Rebecca Chewitt-Lucas, Gijs de Boer, Julien Delanoë, Leif Denby, Florian Ewald, Benjamin Fildier, Marvin Forde, Geet George, Silke Gross, Martin Hagen, Andrea Hausold, Karen J. Heywood, Lutz Hirsch, Marek Jacob, Friedhelm Jansen, Stefan Kinne, Daniel Klocke, Tobias Kölling, Heike Konow, Marie Lothon, Wiebke Mohr, Ann Kristin Naumann, Louise Nuijens, Léa Olivier, Robert Pincus, Mira Pöhlker, Gilles Reverdin, Gregory Roberts, Sabrina Schnitt, Hauke Schulz, A. Pier Siebesma, Claudia Christine Stephan, Peter Sullivan, Ludovic Touzé-Peiffer, Jessica Vial, Raphaela Vogel, Paquita Zuidema, Nicola Alexander, Lyndon Alves, Sophian Arixi, Hamish Asmath, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Katharina Baier, Adriana Bailey, Dariusz Baranowski, Alexandre Baron, Sébastien Barrau, Paul A. Barrett, Frédéric Batier, Andreas Behrendt, Arne Bendinger, Florent Beucher, Sebastien Bigorre, Edmund Blades, Peter Blossey, Olivier Bock, Steven Böing, Pierre Bosser, Denis Bourras, Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot, Keith Bower, Pierre Branellec, Hubert Branger, Michal Brennek, Alan Brewer, Pierre-Etienne Brilouet, Björn Brügmann, Stefan A. Buehler, Elmo Burke, Ralph Burton, Radiance Calmer, Jean-Christophe Canonici, Xavier Carton, Gregory Cato Jr., Jude Andre Charles, Patrick Chazette, Yanxu Chen, Michal T. Chilinski, Thomas Choularton, Patrick Chuang, Shamal Clarke, Hugh Coe, Céline Cornet, Pierre Coutris, Fleur Couvreux, Susanne Crewell, Timothy Cronin, Zhiqiang Cui, Yannis Cuypers, Alton Daley, Gillian M. Damerell, Thibaut Dauhut, Hartwig Deneke, Jean-Philippe Desbios, Steffen Dörner, Sebastian Donner, Vincent Douet, Kyla Drushka, Marina Dütsch, André Ehrlich, Kerry Emanuel, Alexandros Emmanouilidis, Jean-Claude Etienne, Sheryl Etienne-Leblanc, Ghislain Faure, Graham Feingold, Luca Ferrero, Andreas Fix, Cyrille Flamant, Piotr Jacek Flatau, Gregory R. Foltz, Linda Forster, Iulian Furtuna, Alan Gadian, Joseph Galewsky, Martin Gallagher, Peter Gallimore, Cassandra Gaston, Chelle Gentemann, Nicolas Geyskens, Andreas Giez, John Gollop, Isabelle Gouirand, Christophe Gourbeyre, Dörte de Graaf, Geiske E. de Groot, Robert Grosz, Johannes Güttler, Manuel Gutleben, Kashawn Hall, George Harris, Kevin C. Helfer, Dean Henze, Calvert Herbert, Bruna Holanda, Antonio Ibanez-Landeta, Janet Intrieri, Suneil Iyer, Fabrice Julien, Heike Kalesse, Jan Kazil, Alexander Kellman, Abiel T. Kidane, Ulrike Kirchner, Marcus Klingebiel, Mareike Körner, Leslie Ann Kremper, Jan Kretzschmar, Ovid Krüger, Wojciech Kumala, Armin Kurz, Pierre L'Hégaret, Matthieu Labaste, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Arlene Laing, Peter Landschützer, Theresa Lang, Diego Lange, Ingo Lange, Clément Laplace, Gauke Lavik, Rémi Laxenaire, Caroline Le Bihan, Mason Leandro, Nathalie Lefevre, Marius Lena, Donald Lenschow, Qiang Li, Gary Lloyd, Sebastian Los, Niccolò Losi, Oscar Lovell, Christopher Luneau, Przemyslaw Makuch, Szymon Malinowski, Gaston Manta, Eleni Marinou, Nicholas Marsden, Sebastien Masson, Nicolas Maury, Bernhard Mayer, Margarette Mayers-Als, Christophe Mazel, Wayne McGeary, James C. McWilliams, Mario Mech, Melina Mehlmann, Agostino Niyonkuru Meroni, Theresa Mieslinger, Andreas Minikin, Peter Minnett, Gregor Möller, Yanmichel Morfa Avalos, Caroline Muller, Ionela Musat, Anna Napoli, Almuth Neuberger, Christophe Noisel, David Noone, Freja Nordsiek, Jakub L. Nowak, Lothar Oswald, Douglas J. Parker, Carolyn Peck, Renaud Person, Miriam Philippi, Albert Plueddemann, Christopher Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Ulrich Pöschl, Lawrence Pologne, Michał Posyniak, Marc Prange, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Jule Radtke, Karim Ramage, Jens Reimann, Lionel Renault, Klaus Reus, Ashford Reyes, Joachim Ribbe, Maximilian Ringel, Markus Ritschel, Cesar B. Rocha, Nicolas Rochetin, Johannes Röttenbacher, Callum Rollo, Haley Royer, Pauline Sadoulet, Leo Saffin, Sanola Sandiford, Irina Sandu, Michael Schäfer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Oliver Schlenczek, Jerome Schmidt, Marcel Schröder, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Andrea Sealy, Christoph J. Senff, Ilya Serikov, Samkeyat Shohan, Elizabeth Siddle, Alexander Smirnov, Florian Späth, Branden Spooner, M. Katharina Stolla, Wojciech Szkółka, Simon P. de Szoeke, Stéphane Tarot, Eleni Tetoni, Elizabeth Thompson, Jim Thomson, Lorenzo Tomassini, Julien Totems, Alma Anna Ubele, Leonie Villiger, Jan von Arx, Thomas Wagner, Andi Walther, Ben Webber, Manfred Wendisch, Shanice Whitehall, Anton Wiltshire, Allison A. Wing, Martin Wirth, Jonathan Wiskandt, Kevin Wolf, Ludwig Worbes, Ethan Wright, Volker Wulfmeyer, Shanea Young, Chidong Zhang, Dongxiao Zhang, Florian Ziemen, Tobias Zinner, and Martin Zöger
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4067–4119, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The EUREC4A field campaign, designed to test hypothesized mechanisms by which clouds respond to warming and benchmark next-generation Earth-system models, is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. It was the first campaign that attempted to characterize the full range of processes and scales influencing trade wind clouds.
Olivier Bock, Pierre Bosser, Cyrille Flamant, Erik Doerflinger, Friedhelm Jansen, Romain Fages, Sandrine Bony, and Sabrina Schnitt
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 2407–2436, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2407-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2407-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements from a network of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers operated from the eastern Caribbean islands are used to monitor the total water vapour content in the atmosphere during the EUREC4A field campaign. These data help describe the moisture environment of mesoscale cloud patterns in the trade winds with high temporal sampling. They are also useful to assess the accuracy of collocated radiosonde measurements and numerical weather model reanalyses.
Pierre Bosser, Olivier Bock, Cyrille Flamant, Sandrine Bony, and Sabrina Speich
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 1499–1517, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1499-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1499-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In the framework of the EUREC4A campaign, water vapour measurements were retrieved over the tropical west Atlantic Ocean from GNSS data acquired from three research vessels (R/Vs Atalante, Maria S. Merian and Meteor). The retrievals from R/Vs Atalante and Meteor are shown to be of high quality unlike the results for the R/V Maria S. Merian. These ship-borne retrievals are intended to be used for the description and understanding of meteorological phenomena that occurred during the campaign.
Pierre Bosser and Olivier Bock
Adv. Geosci., 55, 13–22, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-55-13-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-55-13-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
For the documentation of time and space variations of water vapor in atmosphere during the Nawdex campaign (fall 2016), a ground network of more than 1200 continuously operation reference GNSS stations has been analyzed. This network spreads from Caribbeans to Morocco through Greenland. This study presents the retrieval of Integrated Water Vapor content from GNSS measurements and their use in the evaluation of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalyses ERAI and ERA5.
Olivier Bock and Ana C. Parracho
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9453–9468, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9453-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9453-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We examine the consistency of global IWV data from ERA-Interim reanalysis and 16 years of GPS observations. Representativeness differences are found to be a dominant error source, with a strong dependence on geographic, topographic, and climatic features, which explain both average and extreme differences. A methodology for reducing the representativeness errors and detecting the extreme, outlying, cases is discussed.
Nadia Fourrié, Mathieu Nuret, Pierre Brousseau, Olivier Caumont, Alexis Doerenbecher, Eric Wattrelot, Patrick Moll, Hervé Bénichou, Dominique Puech, Olivier Bock, Pierre Bosser, Patrick Chazette, Cyrille Flamant, Paolo Di Girolamo, Evelyne Richard, and Frédérique Saïd
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 2657–2678, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2657-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2657-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The AROME-WMED (western Mediterranean) model is a dedicated version of the mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction AROME-France model that ran in real time during the first special observation period of HyMeX. Two reanalyses were performed after the campaign. This paper depicts the main differences between the real-time version and the benefits brought by both HyMeX reanalyses. The second reanalysis is found to be closer to observations than the previous AROME-WMED analyses.
Sophie Bastin, Philippe Drobinski, Marjolaine Chiriaco, Olivier Bock, Romain Roehrig, Clemente Gallardo, Dario Conte, Marta Domínguez Alonso, Laurent Li, Piero Lionello, and Ana C. Parracho
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 1471–1490, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1471-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1471-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This paper uses colocated observations of temperature, precipitation and humidity to investigate the triggering of precipitation. It shows that there is a critical value of humidity above which precipitation picks up. This critical value depends on T and varies spatially. It also analyses how this dependency is reproduced in regional climate simulations over Europe. Models with too little and too light precipitation have both lower critical value of humidity and higher probability to exceed it.
Ana C. Parracho, Olivier Bock, and Sophie Bastin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 16213–16237, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16213-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16213-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Integrated water vapour from GPS observations and two modern atmospheric reanalyses were compared for 1995–2010. Means, variability and trend signs were in general good agreement. Regions and GPS stations with poor agreement were investigated further. Representativeness issues, uncertainties in reanalyses, and inhomogeneities in GPS were evidenced. Reanalyses were compared for an extended period, and a focus on north Africa and Australia highlighted the impact of dynamics on water vapour trends.
Dunya Alraddawi, Alain Sarkissian, Philippe Keckhut, Olivier Bock, Stefan Noël, Slimane Bekki, Abdenour Irbah, Mustapha Meftah, and Chantal Claud
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2949–2965, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2949-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2949-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The current study provides intercomparisons of various water vapour measurements in the Arctic. It compares ground-based GPS observations with satellite measurements in the infrared (IR), near-infrared (NIR) and visible (VIS) through a specific method allowing us to quantify their uncertainties and limits.
Unlike IR, satellite observations in NIR and VIS bands are mostly sensible to cloud cover during summer and to albedo variability over canopy or polluted snow-covered surfaces in winter.
Katarzyna Stepniak, Olivier Bock, and Pawel Wielgosz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1347–1361, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1347-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1347-2018, 2018
Monica Campanelli, Alessandra Mascitelli, Paolo Sanò, Henri Diémoz, Victor Estellés, Stefano Federico, Anna Maria Iannarelli, Francesca Fratarcangeli, Augusto Mazzoni, Eugenio Realini, Mattia Crespi, Olivier Bock, Jose A. Martínez-Lozano, and Stefano Dietrich
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 81–94, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-81-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-81-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The estimation of precipitable water vapour (W) content is of great interest in both meteorological and climatological studies. Sun photometers allowed the development of W automatic estimations with high temporal resolution. A new methodology, based on the hypothesis that the calibration parameters characterizing the atmospheric transmittance are dependent on vertical profiles of temperature, air pressure and moisture typical of each measurement site, has been presented providing good results.
Leslie David, Olivier Bock, Christian Thom, Pierre Bosser, and Jacques Pelon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2745–2758, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2745-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2745-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The Raman lidar ability to retrieve atmospheric water vapor with high accuracy makes it a premium instrument in different research fields such as climatology, meteorology, or calibration of GNSS altimetry data. In order to achieve long-term stability of the measurements, the system has to be carefully calibrated. In this work we strove to investigate and mitigate the error and instability sources through numerical simulations as well as experimental tests.
Alberto Caldas-Álvarez, Samiro Khodayar, and Olivier Bock
Adv. Sci. Res., 14, 157–162, https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-14-157-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-14-157-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The representation of the atmospheric moisture distribution in weather and climate prediction models has been identified as a source of error in the representation of heavy precipitation events. This research work shows the relevance of overcoming deficiencies in the representation of the moisture content in the vertical direction, even after assimilating humidity data for a case study characteristic of the western Mediterranean by early autumn.
Guergana Guerova, Jonathan Jones, Jan Douša, Galina Dick, Siebren de Haan, Eric Pottiaux, Olivier Bock, Rosa Pacione, Gunnar Elgered, Henrik Vedel, and Michael Bender
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 5385–5406, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5385-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5385-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Application of global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) for atmospheric remote sensing (GNSS meteorology) is a well-established field in both research and operation in Europe. This review covers the state of the art in GNSS meteorology in Europe. It discusses 1) advances in GNSS processing techniques and tropospheric products, 2) use in numerical weather prediction and nowcasting, and 3) climate research.
Fleur Couvreux, Eric Bazile, Guylaine Canut, Yann Seity, Marie Lothon, Fabienne Lohou, Françoise Guichard, and Erik Nilsson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 8983–9002, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8983-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8983-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluates the ability of operational models to predict the boundary-layer turbulent processes and mesoscale variability observed during the Boundary Layer Late-Afternoon and Sunset Turbulence field campaign. The models succeed in reproducing the variability from one day to another in terms of cloud cover, temperature and boundary-layer depth. However, they exhibit some systematic biases. The high-resolution model reproduces the vertical structures better.
F. Hourdin, M. Gueye, B. Diallo, J.-L. Dufresne, J. Escribano, L. Menut, B. Marticoréna, G. Siour, and F. Guichard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 6775–6788, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6775-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6775-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
New parameterizations of the convective boundary layer are used to better represent the diurnal cycle of near-surface wind over Sahara and Sahel in a climate model and the associated emission of dust.
C. Leauthaud, J. Demarty, B. Cappelaere, M. Grippa, L. Kergoat, C. Velluet, F. Guichard, E. Mougin, S. Chelbi, and B. Sultan
Proc. IAHS, 371, 195–201, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-371-195-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-371-195-2015, 2015
M. Lothon, F. Lohou, D. Pino, F. Couvreux, E. R. Pardyjak, J. Reuder, J. Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, P Durand, O. Hartogensis, D. Legain, P. Augustin, B. Gioli, D. H. Lenschow, I. Faloona, C. Yagüe, D. C. Alexander, W. M. Angevine, E Bargain, J. Barrié, E. Bazile, Y. Bezombes, E. Blay-Carreras, A. van de Boer, J. L. Boichard, A. Bourdon, A. Butet, B. Campistron, O. de Coster, J. Cuxart, A. Dabas, C. Darbieu, K. Deboudt, H. Delbarre, S. Derrien, P. Flament, M. Fourmentin, A. Garai, F. Gibert, A. Graf, J. Groebner, F. Guichard, M. A. Jiménez, M. Jonassen, A. van den Kroonenberg, V. Magliulo, S. Martin, D. Martinez, L. Mastrorillo, A. F. Moene, F. Molinos, E. Moulin, H. P. Pietersen, B. Piguet, E. Pique, C. Román-Cascón, C. Rufin-Soler, F. Saïd, M. Sastre-Marugán, Y. Seity, G. J. Steeneveld, P. Toscano, O. Traullé, D. Tzanos, S. Wacker, N. Wildmann, and A. Zaldei
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 10931–10960, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-10931-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-10931-2014, 2014
F. Lohou, L. Kergoat, F. Guichard, A. Boone, B. Cappelaere, J.-M. Cohard, J. Demarty, S. Galle, M. Grippa, C. Peugeot, D. Ramier, C. M. Taylor, and F. Timouk
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3883–3898, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3883-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3883-2014, 2014
O. Bock, P. Bosser, T. Bourcy, L. David, F. Goutail, C. Hoareau, P. Keckhut, D. Legain, A. Pazmino, J. Pelon, K. Pipis, G. Poujol, A. Sarkissian, C. Thom, G. Tournois, and D. Tzanos
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 2777–2802, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2777-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2777-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Clouds and Precipitation | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Aerosol–cloud interactions in cirrus clouds based on global-scale airborne observations and machine learning models
In-cloud characteristics observed in northeastern and midwestern US non-orographic winter storms with implications for ice particle mass growth and residence time
Vertical profiles of liquid water content in fog layers during the SOFOG3D experiment
Quantified ice-nucleating ability of AgI-containing seeding particles in natural clouds
Measurement report: A survey of meteorological and cloud properties during ACTIVATE’s postfrontal flights and their suitability for Lagrangian case studies
Characterization of fog microphysics and their relationships with visibility at a mountain site in China
Quantifying ice crystal growth rates in natural clouds from glaciogenic cloud seeding experiments
Hunting for gravity waves in non-orographic winter storms using 3+ years of regional surface air pressure network and radar observations
Theoretical framework for measuring cloud effective supersaturation fluctuations with an advanced optical system
Airborne observations of cloud properties during their evolution from organized streets to isotropic cloud structures along an Arctic cold air outbreak
Synthesis of surface snowfall rates and radar-observed storm structures in 10+ years of Northeast US winter storms
Investigating the role of typhoon-induced waves and stratospheric hydration in the formation of tropopause cirrus clouds observed during the 2017 Asian monsoon
How does riming influence the observed spatial variability of ice water in mixed-phase clouds?
Moisture Budget Estimates Derived from Airborne Observations in an Arctic Atmospheric River During its Dissipation
Microphysical view of the development and ice production of mid-latitude stratiform clouds with embedded convection during an extratropical cyclone
Clouds and precipitation in the initial phase of marine cold-air outbreaks as observed by airborne remote sensing
Light scattering and microphysical properties of atmospheric bullet rosette ice crystals
Estimating the snow density using collocated Parsivel and Micro-Rain Radar measurements: a preliminary study from ICE-POP 2017/2018
Technical note: On the ice microphysics of isolated thunderstorms and non-thunderstorms in southern China – a radar polarimetric perspective
Distinctive aerosol–cloud–precipitation interactions in marine boundary layer clouds from the ACE-ENA and SOCRATES aircraft field campaigns
Drivers of droplet formation in east Mediterranean orographic clouds
Observed impacts of aerosol concentration on maritime tropical convection within constrained environments using airborne radiometer, radar, lidar, and dropsondes
Causal Analysis of Aerosol Impacts on Isolated Deep Convection: Findings from TRACER
Observability of moisture transport divergence in Arctic atmospheric rivers by dropsondes
Elucidating the boundary layer turbulence dissipation rate using high-resolution measurements from a radar wind profiler network over the Tibetan Plateau
Environmental controls on isolated convection during the Amazonian wet season
Isotopic composition of convective rainfall in the inland tropics of Brazil
Measurement report: Cloud and environmental properties associated with aggregated shallow marine cumulus and cumulus congestus
Lifecycle of updrafts and mass flux in isolated deep convection over the Amazon rainforest: insights from cell tracking
Thermodynamic and cloud evolution in a cold-air outbreak during HALO-(AC)3: quasi-Lagrangian observations compared to the ERA5 and CARRA reanalyses
Powering aircraft with 100 % sustainable aviation fuel reduces ice crystals in contrails
Supercooled liquid water clouds observed over Dome C, Antarctica: temperature sensitivity and cloud radiative forcing
Role of thermodynamic and turbulence processes on the fog life cycle during SOFOG3D experiment
Characterizing the near-global cloud vertical structures over land using high-resolution radiosonde measurements
Differences in microphysical properties of cirrus at high and mid-latitudes
Sub-cloud rain evaporation in the North Atlantic winter trade winds derived by pairing isotopic data with a bin-resolved microphysical model
Overview and statistical analysis of boundary layer clouds and precipitation over the western North Atlantic Ocean
A set of methods to evaluate the below-cloud evaporation effect on local precipitation isotopic composition: a case study for Xi'an, China
Earth-system-model evaluation of cloud and precipitation occurrence for supercooled and warm clouds over the Southern Ocean's Macquarie Island
Pollution slightly enhances atmospheric cooling by low-level clouds in tropical West Africa
Investigating an indirect aviation effect on mid-latitude cirrus clouds – linking lidar-derived optical properties to in situ measurements
Investigating the vertical extent and short-wave radiative effects of the ice phase in Arctic summertime low-level clouds
Microphysical and thermodynamic phase analyses of Arctic low-level clouds measured above the sea ice and the open ocean in spring and summer
Aircraft observations of gravity wave activity and turbulence in the tropical tropopause layer: prevalence, influence on cirrus clouds, and comparison with global storm-resolving models
Influence of air mass origin on microphysical properties of low-level clouds in a subarctic environment
Sensitivity of convectively driven tropical tropopause cirrus properties to ice habits in high-resolution simulations
Upper-tropospheric slightly ice-subsaturated regions: frequency of occurrence and statistical evidence for the appearance of contrail cirrus
Examination of aerosol indirect effects during cirrus cloud evolution
In situ microphysics observations of intense pyroconvection from a large wildfire
Conditions favorable for secondary ice production in Arctic mixed-phase clouds
Derek Ngo, Minghui Diao, Ryan J. Patnaude, Sarah Woods, and Glenn Diskin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7007–7036, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7007-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7007-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Key controlling factors of cirrus clouds were individually quantified using machine learning models based on global-scale in situ observations from 12 campaigns at 67° S–87° N. Relative humidity shows much larger effects on cirrus occurrences and ice water content (IWC) fluctuations than vertical velocity. Aerosol–cloud interactions are seen for both large and small aerosols, with higher IWC and ice crystal number concentration under higher aerosol concentrations. Large aerosols are more impactful than small aerosols.
Luke R. Allen, Sandra E. Yuter, Declan M. Crowe, Matthew A. Miller, and K. Lee Thornhill
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6679–6701, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6679-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6679-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We analyzed in-cloud characteristics using in situ measurements from 42 research flights across two field campaigns into non-orographic, non-lake-effect winter storms. Much of the storm volume contains weak vertical motions (a few centimeters per second), and most updrafts ≥ 0.5 m s-1 are small (< 1 km). Within 2 km of cloud radar echo top, stronger vertical motions and conditions for ice particle growth are more common. Overturning air motions near cloud top appear important for the production of snow particles.
Théophane Costabloz, Frédéric Burnet, Christine Lac, Pauline Martinet, Julien Delanoë, Susana Jorquera, and Maroua Fathalli
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6539–6573, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6539-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6539-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study documents vertical profiles of liquid water content (LWC) in fogs from in situ measurements collected during the SOFOG3D field campaign in 2019–2020. The analysis of 140 vertical profiles reveals a reverse trend in LWC, maximum values at ground decreasing with height, during stable conditions in optically thin fogs, evolving towards quasi-adiabatic characteristics when fogs become thick. These results offer new perspectives for better constraining fog numerical simulations.
Anna J. Miller, Christopher Fuchs, Fabiola Ramelli, Huiying Zhang, Nadja Omanovic, Robert Spirig, Claudia Marcolli, Zamin A. Kanji, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5387–5407, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5387-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5387-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We analyzed the ability of silver iodide particles (a commonly used cloud-seeding agent) to form ice crystals in naturally occurring liquid clouds at −5 to −8 °C and found that only ≈ 0.1 %−1 % of particles nucleate ice, with a negative dependence on temperature. By contextualizing our results with previous laboratory studies, we help to bridge the gap between laboratory and field experiments, which also helps to inform future cloud-seeding projects.
Florian Tornow, Ann Fridlind, George Tselioudis, Brian Cairns, Andrew Ackerman, Seethala Chellappan, David Painemal, Paquita Zuidema, Christiane Voigt, Simon Kirschler, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5053–5074, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5053-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5053-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The recent NASA campaign ACTIVATE (Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment) performed 71 tandem flights in mid-latitude marine cold-air outbreaks off the US eastern seaboard. We provide meteorological and cloud transition stage context, allowing us to identify days that are most suitable for Lagrangian modeling and analysis. Surveyed cloud properties show signatures of cloud microphysical processes, such as cloud-top entrainment and secondary ice formation.
Quan Liu, Xiaojing Shen, Junying Sun, Yangmei Zhang, Bing Qi, Qianli Ma, Lujie Han, Honghui Xu, Xinyao Hu, Jiayuan Lu, Shuo Liu, Aoyuan Yu, Linlin Liang, Qian Gao, Hong Wang, Huizheng Che, and Xiaoye Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3253–3267, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3253-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3253-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Through simultaneous measurements of aerosol particles and fog droplets, the evolution of droplets size distribution during the eight observed fog events was investigated. The results showed that the concentration and size distribution of pre-fog aerosol had significant impacts on fog microphysical characteristics. The extinction of fog interstitial particles played an important role in visibility degradation for light fogs, especially in polluted regions.
Christopher Fuchs, Fabiola Ramelli, Anna J. Miller, Nadja Omanovic, Robert Spirig, Huiying Zhang, Patric Seifert, Kevin Ohneiser, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-688, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-688, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We quantify diffusional ice crystal growth in natural clouds using cloud seeding experiments. We report growth rates for 14 experiments between -5.1°C and -8.3°C and observe strong variations depending on the cloud characteristics. Comparing our growth rates to laboratory data, we found similar temperature-dependent trends, but the laboratory rates are higher. This data fills the gap in quantitative in situ observation of ice crystal growth, helping to validate models and laboratory experiments.
Luke R. Allen, Sandra E. Yuter, Matthew A. Miller, and Laura M. Tomkins
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1765–1790, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1765-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1765-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) are air oscillations in which buoyancy is the restoring force, and they may enhance precipitation under certain conditions. We used 3+ seasons of pressure data to identify GWs with wavelengths ≤ 170 km in the Toronto and New York metropolitan areas in the context of snow storms. We found only six GW events during snow storms, suggesting that GWs on those scales are uncommon at the two locations during snow storms and, thus, do not often enhance snowfall.
Ye Kuang, Jiangchuan Tao, Hanbing Xu, Li Liu, Pengfei Liu, Wanyun Xu, Weiqi Xu, Yele Sun, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1163–1174, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1163-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1163-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a novel optical framework to measure supersaturation, a fundamental parameter in cloud physics, by observing the scattering properties of particles that have or have not grown into cloud droplets. The technique offers high-resolution measurements, capturing essential fluctuations in supersaturation necessary for understanding cloud physics.
Marcus Klingebiel, André Ehrlich, Micha Gryschka, Nils Risse, Nina Maherndl, Imke Schirmacher, Sophie Rosenburg, Sabine Hörnig, Manuel Moser, Evelyn Jäkel, Michael Schäfer, Hartwig Deneke, Mario Mech, Christiane Voigt, and Manfred Wendisch
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-201, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-201, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Our study is using aircraft measurements from the HALO-(𝒜𝒞)³ campaign to investigate the transition from organized Arctic cloud street structures to more scattered cloud shapes. We show that lower wind speeds cause this transition. In addition we look at the changes of the cloud coverage, the height of the clouds, the cloud particles and the radiative properties.
Laura M. Tomkins, Sandra E. Yuter, Matthew A. Miller, Mariko Oue, and Charles N. Helms
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates how radar-detected snow bands relate to snowfall rates during winter storms in the northeastern U.S. Using over a decade of data, we found that snow bands are not consistently linked to heavy snowfall at the surface, as snow particles are often dispersed by wind before reaching the ground. These findings highlight limitations of using radar reflectivity for predicting snow rates and suggest focusing on radar echo duration to better understand snowfall patterns.
Amit Kumar Pandit, Jean-Paul Vernier, Thomas Duncan Fairlie, Kristopher M. Bedka, Melody A. Avery, Harish Gadhavi, Madineni Venkat Ratnam, Sanjeev Dwivedi, Kasimahanthi Amar Jyothi, Frank G. Wienhold, Holger Vömel, Hongyu Liu, Bo Zhang, Buduru Suneel Kumar, Tra Dinh, and Achuthan Jayaraman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 14209–14238, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-14209-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-14209-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates the formation mechanism of a tropopause cirrus cloud layer observed at extremely cold temperatures over Hyderabad in India during the 2017 Asian summer monsoon using balloon-borne sensors. Ice crystals smaller than 50 µm were found in this optically thin cirrus cloud layer. Combined analysis of back trajectories, satellite, and model data revealed that the formation of this layer was influenced by waves and stratospheric hydration induced by typhoon Hato.
Nina Maherndl, Manuel Moser, Imke Schirmacher, Aaron Bansemer, Johannes Lucke, Christiane Voigt, and Maximilian Maahn
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13935–13960, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13935-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13935-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
It is not clear why ice crystals in clouds occur in clusters. Here, airborne measurements of clouds in mid-latitudes and high latitudes are used to study the spatial variability of ice. Further, we investigate the influence of riming, which occurs when liquid droplets freeze onto ice crystals. We find that riming enhances the occurrence of ice clusters. In the Arctic, riming leads to ice clustering at spatial scales of 3–5 km. This is due to updrafts and not higher amounts of liquid water.
Henning Dorff, Florian Ewald, Heike Konow, Mario Mech, Davide Ori, Vera Schemann, Andreas Walbröl, Manfred Wendisch, and Felix Ament
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3632, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3632, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Using observations of an Arctic Atmospheric River (AR) from a long-range research aircraft, we analyse how moisture transported into the Arctic by the AR is transformed and how it interacts with the Arctic environment. The moisture transport divergence is the main driver of local moisture change over time. Surface precipitation and evaporation are rather weak when averaged over extended AR sectors, although considerable heterogeneity of precipitation within the AR is observed.
Yuanmou Du, Dantong Liu, Delong Zhao, Mengyu Huang, Ping Tian, Dian Wen, Wei Xiao, Wei Zhou, Hui He, Baiwan Pan, Dongfei Zuo, Xiange Liu, Yingying Jing, Rong Zhang, Jiujiang Sheng, Fei Wang, Yu Huang, Yunbo Chen, and Deping Ding
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13429–13444, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13429-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13429-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
By conducting in situ measurements, we investigated ice production processes in stratiform clouds with embedded convection over the North China Plain. The results show that the ice number concentration is strongly related to the distance to the cloud top, and the level with a larger distance to the cloud top has more graupel falling from upper levels, which promotes collision and coalescence between graupel and droplets and enhances secondary ice production.
Imke Schirmacher, Sabrina Schnitt, Marcus Klingebiel, Nina Maherndl, Benjamin Kirbus, André Ehrlich, Mario Mech, and Susanne Crewell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12823–12842, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12823-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12823-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
During Arctic marine cold-air outbreaks, cold air flows from sea ice over open water. Roll circulations evolve, forming cloud streets. We investigate the initial circulation and cloud development using high-resolution airborne measurements. We compute the distance an air mass traveled over water (fetch) from back trajectories. Cloud streets form at 15 km fetch, cloud cover strongly increases at around 20 km, and precipitation forms at around 30 km.
Shawn Wendell Wagner, Martin Schnaiter, Guanglang Xu, Franziska Nehlert, and Emma Järvinen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3316, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3316, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding the interaction between cirrus clouds and solar radiation is critical for modeling the Earth’s climate. A common crystal type found in cirrus clouds is the bullet rosette. Here, atmospheric bullet rosettes measured from jet aircraft are analyzed for their morphological and radiative properties. Atmospheric bullet rosettes are found to be more morphologically complex than previously assumed. This complexity has a significant impact on their radiative properties.
Wei-Yu Chang, Yung-Chuan Yang, Chen-Yu Hung, Kwonil Kim, Gyuwon Lee, and Ali Tokay
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11955–11979, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11955-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11955-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Snow density is derived by collocated Micro-Rain Radar (MRR) and Parsivel (ICE-POP 2017/2018). We apply the particle size distribution from Parsivel to a T-matrix backscattering simulation and compare with ZHH from MRR. Bulk density and bulk water fractions are derived from comparing simulated and calculated ZHH. Retrieved bulk density is validated by comparing snowfall rate measurements from Pluvio and the Precipitation Imaging Package. Snowfall rate consistency confirms the algorithm.
Chuanhong Zhao, Yijun Zhang, Dong Zheng, Haoran Li, Sai Du, Xueyan Peng, Xiantong Liu, Pengguo Zhao, Jiafeng Zheng, and Juan Shi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11637–11651, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11637-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11637-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding lightning activity is important for meteorology and atmospheric chemistry. However, the occurrence of lightning activity in clouds is uncertain. In this study, we quantified the difference between isolated thunderstorms and non-thunderstorms. We showed that lightning activity was more likely to occur with more graupel volume and/or riming. A deeper ZDR column was associated with lightning occurrence. This information can aid in a deeper understanding of lighting physics.
Xiaojian Zheng, Xiquan Dong, Baike Xi, Timothy Logan, and Yuan Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10323–10347, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10323-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10323-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The marine boundary layer aerosol–cloud interactions (ACIs) are examined using in situ measurements from two aircraft campaigns over the eastern North Atlantic (ACE-ENA) and Southern Ocean (SOCRATES). The SOCRATES clouds have more and smaller cloud droplets. The ACE-ENA clouds exhibit stronger drizzle formation and growth. Results found distinctive aerosol–cloud interactions for two campaigns. The drizzle processes significantly alter sub-cloud aerosol budgets and impact the ACI assessments.
Romanos Foskinis, Ghislain Motos, Maria I. Gini, Olga Zografou, Kunfeng Gao, Stergios Vratolis, Konstantinos Granakis, Ville Vakkari, Kalliopi Violaki, Andreas Aktypis, Christos Kaltsonoudis, Zongbo Shi, Mika Komppula, Spyros N. Pandis, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Alexandros Papayannis, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9827–9842, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9827-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9827-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Analysis of modeling, in situ, and remote sensing measurements reveals the microphysical state of orographic clouds and their response to aerosol from the boundary layer and free troposphere. We show that cloud response to aerosol is robust, as predicted supersaturation and cloud droplet number levels agree with those determined from in-cloud measurements. The ability to determine if clouds are velocity- or aerosol-limited allows for novel model constraints and remote sensing products.
Corey G. Amiot, Timothy J. Lang, Susan C. van den Heever, Richard A. Ferrare, Ousmane O. Sy, Lawrence D. Carey, Sundar A. Christopher, John R. Mecikalski, Sean W. Freeman, George Alexander Sokolowsky, Chris A. Hostetler, and Simone Tanelli
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2384, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2384, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Decoupling aerosol and environmental impacts on convection is challenging. Using airborne data, we correlated microwave-frequency convective metrics with aerosol concentrations in several different environments. Medium-to-high aerosol concentrations were often strongly and positively correlated with convective intensity and frequency, especially in favorable environments based on temperature lapse rates and K-Index. Storm environment is important to consider when evaluating aerosol effects.
Dié Wang, Roni Kobrosly, Tao Zhang, Tamanna Subba, Susan van den Heever, Siddhant Gupta, and Michael Jensen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2436, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2436, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use a new method to understand how tiny particles in the air, called aerosols, affect rain clouds in the Houston-Galveston area. Aerosols generally do not make these clouds grow much taller, with an average height increase of about 1 km under certain conditions. However, their effects on rainfall strength and cloud expansion are less certain. Clouds influenced by sea breezes show a stronger aerosol impact, possibly due to unaccounted factors like vertical winds in near-surface layers.
Henning Dorff, Heike Konow, Vera Schemann, and Felix Ament
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8771–8795, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8771-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8771-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Using synthetic dropsondes, we assess how discrete spatial sampling and temporal evolution during flight affect the accuracy of real sonde-based moisture transport divergence in Arctic atmospheric rivers (ARs). Non-instantaneous sampling during temporal AR evolution deteriorates the divergence values more than spatial undersampling. Moisture advection is the dominating factor but most sensitive to the sampling method. We suggest a minimum of seven sondes to resolve the AR divergence components.
Deli Meng, Jianping Guo, Xiaoran Guo, Yinjun Wang, Ning Li, Yuping Sun, Zhen Zhang, Na Tang, Haoran Li, Fan Zhang, Bing Tong, Hui Xu, and Tianmeng Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8703–8720, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8703-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8703-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The turbulence in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) remains unclear. Here we elucidate the vertical profile of and temporal variation in the turbulence dissipation rate in the PBL over the TP based on a radar wind profiler (RWP) network. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the turbulence profile over the whole TP has been revealed. Furthermore, the possible mechanisms of clouds acting on the PBL turbulence structure are investigated.
Leandro Alex Moreira Viscardi, Giuseppe Torri, David K. Adams, and Henrique de Melo Jorge Barbosa
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8529–8548, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8529-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8529-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluate the environmental conditions that control how clouds grow from fair weather cumulus into severe thunderstorms during the Amazonian wet season. Days with rain clouds begin with more moisture in the air and have strong convergence in the afternoon, while precipitation intensity increases with large-scale vertical velocity, moisture, and low-level wind. These results contribute to understanding how clouds form over the rainforest.
Vinicius dos Santos, Didier Gastmans, Ana María Durán-Quesada, Ricardo Sánchez-Murillo, Kazimierz Rozanski, Oliver Kracht, and Demilson de Assis Quintão
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6663–6680, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6663-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6663-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present novel findings on convective rainfall, summer rain in the late afternoon, by coupling water stable isotopes, micro rain radar, and satellite data. We found the tallest clouds in the afternoon and much smaller clouds at night, resulting in differences in day–night ratios in water stable isotopes. We sampled rain and meteorological variables every 5–10 min, allowing us to evaluate the development of convective rainfall, contributing to knowledge of rainfall related to extreme events.
Ewan Crosbie, Luke D. Ziemba, Michael A. Shook, Taylor Shingler, Johnathan W. Hair, Armin Sorooshian, Richard A. Ferrare, Brian Cairns, Yonghoon Choi, Joshua DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Chris Hostetler, Simon Kirschler, Richard H. Moore, David Painemal, Claire Robinson, Shane T. Seaman, K. Lee Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, and Edward Winstead
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6123–6152, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6123-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6123-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Marine clouds are found to clump together in regions or lines, readily discernible from satellite images of the ocean. While clustering is also a feature of deep storm clouds, we focus on smaller cloud systems associated with fair weather and brief localized showers. Two aircraft sampled the region around these shallow systems: one incorporated measurements taken within, adjacent to, and below the clouds, while the other provided a survey from above using remote sensing techniques.
Siddhant Gupta, Dié Wang, Scott E. Giangrande, Thiago S. Biscaro, and Michael P. Jensen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4487–4510, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4487-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4487-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We examine the lifecycle of isolated deep convective clouds (DCCs) in the Amazon rainforest. Weather radar echoes from the DCCs are tracked to evaluate their lifecycle. The DCC size and intensity increase, reach a peak, and then decrease over the DCC lifetime. Vertical profiles of air motion and mass transport from different seasons are examined to understand the transport of energy and momentum within DCC cores and to address the deficiencies in simulating DCCs using weather and climate models.
Benjamin Kirbus, Imke Schirmacher, Marcus Klingebiel, Michael Schäfer, André Ehrlich, Nils Slättberg, Johannes Lucke, Manuel Moser, Hanno Müller, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3883–3904, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3883-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3883-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A research aircraft is used to track the changes in air temperature, moisture, and cloud properties for air that moves from cold Arctic sea ice onto warmer oceanic waters. The measurements are compared to two reanalysis models named ERA5 and CARRA. The biggest differences are found for air temperature over the sea ice and moisture over the ocean. CARRA data are more accurate than ERA5 because they better simulate the sea ice, the transition from sea ice to open ocean, and the forming clouds.
Raphael Satoru Märkl, Christiane Voigt, Daniel Sauer, Rebecca Katharina Dischl, Stefan Kaufmann, Theresa Harlaß, Valerian Hahn, Anke Roiger, Cornelius Weiß-Rehm, Ulrike Burkhardt, Ulrich Schumann, Andreas Marsing, Monika Scheibe, Andreas Dörnbrack, Charles Renard, Maxime Gauthier, Peter Swann, Paul Madden, Darren Luff, Reetu Sallinen, Tobias Schripp, and Patrick Le Clercq
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3813–3837, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3813-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3813-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In situ measurements of contrails from a large passenger aircraft burning 100 % sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) show a 56 % reduction in contrail ice crystal numbers compared to conventional Jet A-1. Results from a climate model initialized with the observations suggest a significant decrease in radiative forcing from contrails. Our study confirms that future increased use of low aromatic SAF can reduce the climate impact from aviation.
Philippe Ricaud, Massimo Del Guasta, Angelo Lupi, Romain Roehrig, Eric Bazile, Pierre Durand, Jean-Luc Attié, Alessia Nicosia, and Paolo Grigioni
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 613–630, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-613-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-613-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds affect the Earth's climate in ways that depend on the type of cloud (solid/liquid water). From observations at Concordia (Antarctica), we show that in supercooled liquid water (liquid water for temperatures below 0°C) clouds (SLWCs), temperature and SLWC radiative forcing increase with liquid water (up to 70 W m−2). We extrapolated that the maximum SLWC radiative forcing can reach 40 W m−2 over the Antarctic Peninsula, highlighting the importance of SLWCs for global climate prediction.
Cheikh Dione, Martial Haeffelin, Frédéric Burnet, Christine Lac, Guylaine Canut, Julien Delanoë, Jean-Charles Dupont, Susana Jorquera, Pauline Martinet, Jean-François Ribaud, and Felipe Toledo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15711–15731, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15711-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15711-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper documents the role of thermodynamics and turbulence in the fog life cycle over southwestern France. It is based on a unique dataset collected during the SOFOG3D field campaign in autumn and winter 2019–2020. The paper gives a threshold for turbulence driving the different phases of the fog life cycle and the role of advection in the night-time dissipation of fog. The results can be operationalised to nowcast fog and improve short-range forecasts in numerical weather prediction models.
Hui Xu, Jianping Guo, Bing Tong, Jinqiang Zhang, Tianmeng Chen, Xiaoran Guo, Jian Zhang, and Wenqing Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15011–15038, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15011-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15011-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The radiative effect of cloud remains one of the largest uncertain factors in climate change, largely due to the lack of cloud vertical structure (CVS) observations. The study presents the first near-global CVS climatology using high-vertical-resolution soundings. Single-layer cloud mainly occurs over arid regions. As the number of cloud layers increases, clouds tend to have lower bases and thinner layer thicknesses. The occurrence frequency of cloud exhibits a pronounced seasonal diurnal cycle.
Elena De La Torre Castro, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Armin Afchine, Volker Grewe, Valerian Hahn, Simon Kirschler, Martina Krämer, Johannes Lucke, Nicole Spelten, Heini Wernli, Martin Zöger, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13167–13189, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13167-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13167-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we show the differences in the microphysical properties between high-latitude (HL) cirrus and mid-latitude (ML) cirrus over the Arctic, North Atlantic, and central Europe during summer. The in situ measurements are combined with backward trajectories to investigate the influence of the region on cloud formation. We show that HL cirrus are characterized by a lower concentration of larger ice crystals when compared to ML cirrus.
Mampi Sarkar, Adriana Bailey, Peter Blossey, Simon P. de Szoeke, David Noone, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Mason D. Leandro, and Patrick Y. Chuang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12671–12690, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12671-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12671-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We study rain evaporation characteristics below shallow cumulus clouds over the North Atlantic Ocean by pairing isotope observations with a microphysical model. The modeled fraction of rain mass that evaporates below the cloud strongly depends on the raindrop size and distribution width. Moreover, the higher the rain mass fraction evaporated, the greater the change in deuterium excess. In this way, rain evaporation could be studied independently using only isotope and microphysical observations.
Simon Kirschler, Christiane Voigt, Bruce E. Anderson, Gao Chen, Ewan C. Crosbie, Richard A. Ferrare, Valerian Hahn, Johnathan W. Hair, Stefan Kaufmann, Richard H. Moore, David Painemal, Claire E. Robinson, Kevin J. Sanchez, Amy J. Scarino, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10731–10750, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10731-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10731-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we present an overview of liquid and mixed-phase clouds and precipitation in the marine boundary layer over the western North Atlantic Ocean. We compare microphysical properties of pure liquid clouds to mixed-phase clouds and show that the initiation of the ice phase in mixed-phase clouds promotes precipitation. The observational data presented in this study are well suited for investigating the processes that give rise to liquid and mixed-phase clouds, ice, and precipitation.
Meng Xing, Weiguo Liu, Jing Hu, and Zheng Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9123–9136, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9123-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9123-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The below-cloud evaporation effect (BCE) on precipitation largely impacts the final isotopic composition. However, determining the BCE effect remains poorly constrained. Our work used a ΔdΔδ diagram to differentiate the below-cloud processes. Moreover, by comparing two different computing methods, we considered that both methods are suitable for evaluation the BCE, except for snowfall events. Overall, our work compiled a set of effective methods to evaluate the BCE effect.
McKenna W. Stanford, Ann M. Fridlind, Israel Silber, Andrew S. Ackerman, Greg Cesana, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Alain Protat, Simon Alexander, and Adrian McDonald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9037–9069, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9037-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9037-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds play an important role in the Earth’s climate system as they modulate the amount of radiation that either reaches the surface or is reflected back to space. This study demonstrates an approach to robustly evaluate surface-based observations against a large-scale model. We find that the large-scale model precipitates too infrequently relative to observations, contrary to literature documentation suggesting otherwise based on satellite measurements.
Valerian Hahn, Ralf Meerkötter, Christiane Voigt, Sonja Gisinger, Daniel Sauer, Valéry Catoire, Volker Dreiling, Hugh Coe, Cyrille Flamant, Stefan Kaufmann, Jonas Kleine, Peter Knippertz, Manuel Moser, Philip Rosenberg, Hans Schlager, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, and Jonathan Taylor
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8515–8530, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8515-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8515-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
During the DACCIWA campaign in West Africa, we found a 35 % increase in the cloud droplet concentration that formed in a polluted compared with a less polluted environment and a decrease of 17 % in effective droplet diameter. Radiative transfer simulations, based on the measured cloud properties, reveal that these low-level polluted clouds radiate only 2.6 % more energy back to space, compared with a less polluted cloud. The corresponding additional decrease in temperature is rather small.
Silke Groß, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Qiang Li, Martin Wirth, Benedikt Urbanek, Martina Krämer, Ralf Weigel, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8369–8381, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8369-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8369-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Aviation-emitted aerosol can have an impact on cirrus clouds. We present optical and microphysical properties of mid-latitude cirrus clouds which were formed under the influence of aviation-emitted aerosol or which were formed under rather pristine conditions. We find that cirrus clouds affected by aviation-emitted aerosol show larger values of the particle linear depolarization ratio, larger mean effective ice particle diameters and decreased ice particle number concentrations.
Emma Järvinen, Franziska Nehlert, Guanglang Xu, Fritz Waitz, Guillaume Mioche, Regis Dupuy, Olivier Jourdan, and Martin Schnaiter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7611–7633, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7611-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7611-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic is warming faster than other regions. Arctic low-level mixed-phase clouds, where ice crystals and liquid droplets co-exist, are thought to have an important role in Arctic warming. Here we show airborne measurements of vertical distribution of liquid and ice particles and their relative abundance. Ice particles are found in relative warm clouds, which can be explained by multiplication of existing ice crystals. However, the role of ice particles in redistributing sun light is minimal.
Manuel Moser, Christiane Voigt, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Valerian Hahn, Guillaume Mioche, Olivier Jourdan, Régis Dupuy, Christophe Gourbeyre, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Johannes Lucke, Yvonne Boose, Mario Mech, Stephan Borrmann, André Ehrlich, Andreas Herber, Christof Lüpkes, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7257–7280, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7257-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7257-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides a comprehensive microphysical and thermodynamic phase analysis of low-level clouds in the northern Fram Strait, above the sea ice and the open ocean, during spring and summer. Using airborne in situ cloud data, we show that the properties of Arctic low-level clouds vary significantly with seasonal meteorological situations and surface conditions. The observations presented in this study can help one to assess the role of clouds in the Arctic climate system.
Rachel Atlas and Christopher S. Bretherton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4009–4030, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4009-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4009-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The tropical tropopause layer exists between the troposphere and the stratosphere in the tropics. Very thin cirrus clouds cool Earth's surface by scrubbing water vapor (a greenhouse gas) out of air parcels as they ascend through the tropical tropopause layer on their way to the stratosphere. We show observational evidence from aircraft that small-scale (< 100 km) gravity waves and turbulence increase the amount of ice in these clouds and may allow them to remove more water vapor from the air.
Konstantinos Matthaios Doulgeris, Ville Vakkari, Ewan J. O'Connor, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Heikki Lihavainen, and David Brus
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2483–2498, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2483-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2483-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We investigated how different long-range-transported air masses can affect the microphysical properties of low-level clouds in a clean subarctic environment. A connection was revealed. Higher values of cloud droplet number concentrations were related to continental air masses, whereas the lowest values of number concentrations were related to marine air masses. These were characterized by larger cloud droplets. Clouds in all regions were sensitive to increases in cloud number concentration.
Fayçal Lamraoui, Martina Krämer, Armin Afchine, Adam B. Sokol, Sergey Khaykin, Apoorva Pandey, and Zhiming Kuang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2393–2419, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2393-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2393-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Cirrus in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) can play a key role in vertical transport. We investigate the role of different cloud regimes and the associated ice habits in regulating the properties of the TTL. We use high-resolution numerical experiments at the scales of large-eddy simulations (LESs) and aircraft measurements. We found that LES-scale parameterizations that predict ice shape are crucial for an accurate representation of TTL cirrus and thus the associated (de)hydration process.
Yun Li, Christoph Mahnke, Susanne Rohs, Ulrich Bundke, Nicole Spelten, Georgios Dekoutsidis, Silke Groß, Christiane Voigt, Ulrich Schumann, Andreas Petzold, and Martina Krämer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2251–2271, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2251-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2251-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The radiative effect of aviation-induced cirrus is closely related to ambient conditions and its microphysical properties. Our study investigated the occurrence of contrail and natural cirrus measured above central Europe in spring 2014. It finds that contrail cirrus appears frequently in the pressure range 200 to 245 hPa and occurs more often in slightly ice-subsaturated environments than expected. Avoiding slightly ice-subsaturated regions by aviation might help mitigate contrail cirrus.
Flor Vanessa Maciel, Minghui Diao, and Ryan Patnaude
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1103–1129, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1103-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1103-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol indirect effects on cirrus clouds are investigated during cirrus evolution, using global-scale in situ observations and climate model simulations. As cirrus evolves, the mechanisms to form ice crystals also change with time. Both small and large aerosols are found to affect cirrus properties. Southern Hemisphere cirrus appears to be more sensitive to additional aerosols. The climate model underestimates ice crystal mass, likely due to biases of relative humidity and vertical velocity.
David E. Kingsmill, Jeffrey R. French, and Neil P. Lareau
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1–21, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses in situ aircraft measurements to characterize the size and shape distributions of 10 µm to 6 mm diameter particles observed during six penetrations of wildfire-induced pyroconvection. Particles sampled in one penetration of a smoke plume are most likely pyrometeors composed of ash. The other penetrations are through pyrocumulus clouds where particle composition is most likely a combination of hydrometeors (ice particles) and pyrometeors (ash).
Julie Thérèse Pasquier, Jan Henneberger, Fabiola Ramelli, Annika Lauber, Robert Oscar David, Jörg Wieder, Tim Carlsen, Rosa Gierens, Marion Maturilli, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15579–15601, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15579-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15579-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
It is important to understand how ice crystals and cloud droplets form in clouds, as their concentrations and sizes determine the exact radiative properties of the clouds. Normally, ice crystals form from aerosols, but we found evidence for the formation of additional ice crystals from the original ones over a large temperature range within Arctic clouds. In particular, additional ice crystals were formed during collisions of several ice crystals or during the freezing of large cloud droplets.
Cited articles
Adams, D. K., Fernandes, R. M., Kursinski, E. R., Maia, J. M., Sapucci, L.
F., Machado, L. A., Vitorello, I. , Monico, J. F., Holub, K. L., Gutman, S.
I., Filizola, N., and Bennett, R. A.: A dense GNSS meteorological network
for observing deep convection in the Amazon, Atmos. Sci. Lett., 12, 207–212,
https://doi.org/10.1002/asl.312, 2011.
Adams, D. K., Minjarez, C., Serra, Y., Quintanar, A., Alatorre, L.,
Granados, A., Vázquez, E., and Braun, J.: Mexican GPS Tracks Convection
From North American Monsoon, Eos Trans. AGU, 95, 61–68, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014EO070001, 2014.
Altamimi, Z., Rebischung, P., Metivier, L., and Collilieux, X.: ITRF2014: a new
release of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame modeling nonlinear
station motions, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 121, 6109–6131, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JB013098, 2016.
American Meteorological Society: Mesoscale Convective System, Glossary of
Meteorology, available at: http://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Mesoscale_convective_system (last access: 27 November 2018), 2015.
Bar-Sever, Y. E., Kroger, P. M., and Borjesson, J. A.: Estimating horizontal
gradients of tropospheric path delay with a single GPS receiver, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 5019–5035, https://doi.org/10.1029/97JB03534,
1998.
Barthe, C., Asencio, N., Lafore, J., Chong, M., Campistron, B., and
Cazenave, F.: Multi-scale analysis of the 25–27 July 2006 convective period over Niamey: Comparison between Doppler radar
observations and simulations, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 136, 190–208, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.539, 2010.
Bertiger, W., Desai, S. D., Haines, B., Harvey, N., Moore, A. W., Owen, S.,
and Weiss, J. P.: Single receiver phase ambiguity resolution with GPS data,
J. Geodesy, 84, 327–337, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-010-0371-9, 2010.
Beucher, F., Lafore, J., Karbou, F., and Roca, R.: High-resolution prediction
of a major convective period over West Africa, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 140,
1409–1425, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2225, 2014.
Bevis, M., Businger, S., Herring, T. A., Rocken, C., Anthes, R. A., and
Ware, R. H.: GPS meteorology: Remote sensing of atmospheric water vapor
using the global positioning system, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 15787–15801,
https://doi.org/10.1029/92JD01517, 1992.
Bock, O., Bouin, M. N. Doerflinger, E., Collard, P., Masson, F., Meynadier,
R., Nahmani, S., Koité, M., Gaptia Lawan Balawan, K., Didé, F.,
Ouedraogo, D., Pokperlaar, S., Ngamini, J.-B., Lafore, J. P., Janicot, S.,
Guichard, F., and Nuret, M.: West African Monsoon observed with ground-based GPS
receivers during African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA), J. Geophys. Res., 113, D21105, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010327,
2008.
Boehm, J., Niell, A., Tregoning, P., and Schuh, H.: Global Mapping Function
(GMF): A new empirical mapping function based on numerical weather model
data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L07304, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL025546, 2006a.
Boehm, J., Werl, B., and Schuh, H.: Troposphere mapping functions for GPS
and very long baseline interferometry from European Centre for Medium-Range
Weather Forecasts operational analysis data, J. Geophys. Res., 111, B02406,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JB003629, 2006b.
Bretherton, C. S., Peters, M. E., and Back, L. E.: Relationships between Water
Vapor Path and Precipitation over the Tropical Oceans, J. Climate, 17,
1517–1528, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2004)017<1517:RBWVPA>2.0.CO;2, 2004.
Chen, G. and Herring, T. A.: Effects of atmospheric azimuthal asymmetry on
the analysis of space geodetic data, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 20489–20502,
https://doi.org/10.1029/97JB01739, 1997.
Chong, M.: The 11 August 2006 squall-line system as observed from MIT
Doppler radar during the AMMA SOP, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 136, 209–226,
https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.466, 2010.
Couvreux, F., Rio, C., Guichard, F., Lothon, M., Canut, G., Bouniol, D., and Gounou, A.: Initiation of daytime local convection in a semi‐arid region analysed with high‐resolution simulations and AMMA observations, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 138, 56–71, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.903, 2012.
D'Amato, N. and Lebel, T.: On the characteristics of the rainfall events in
the Sahel with a view to the analysis of climatic variability, J. Climatol.,
18, 955–974. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(199807)18:9<955::AID-JOC236>3.0.CO;2-6, 1998.
Dong, D.-N. and Bock, Y.: Global Positioning System Network analysis with
phase ambiguity resolution applied to crustal deformation studies in
California, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 3949–3966, https://doi.org/10.1029/JB094iB04p03949, 1989.
Dow, J. M., Neilan, R. E., and Rizos, C.: The International GNSS Service in
a changing landscape of Global Navigation Satellite Systems, J. Geodesy, 83,
191–198, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-008-0300-3, 2009.
Fink, A. H., Vincent, D. G., and Ermert, V.: Rainfall Types in the West
African Sudanian Zone during the Summer Monsoon 2002, Mon. Weather Rev., 134,
2143–2164, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR3182.1, 2006.
Frappart, F., Hiernaux, P., Guichard, F., Mougin, E., Kergoat, L., Arjounin,
M., Lavenu, F., Koité, M., Paturel, J.-E., and Lebel, T.: Rainfall regime
over the Sahelian climate gradient in the Gourma, Mali, J. Hydrol., 375,
128–142, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.03.007, 2009.
Gutzler, D., Kim, H. K., Higgins, W., Juang, H., Kanamitsu, M., Mitchell,
K., Mo, K., Pegion, P., Ritchie, L., Schemm, J. K., Schubert, S., Song, Y.,
and Yang, R.: North American monsoon Model Assessment Project: (NAMAP).
NCEP/Climate Prediction Center ATLAS No. 11. National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 35 pp., available
at: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/research_papers/ncep_cpc_atlas/11/index.html (last access: 27 November 2018), 2004.
Hernandez-Pajares, M., Juan, J., Sanz, J., and Orus, R.: Second-order
ionospheric term in GPS: Implementation and impact on geodetic estimates, J. Geophys. Res., 112, B08417, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JB004707,
2007.
Herring, T. A., King, R. W., Floyd, M. A., and McClusky, S. C.: GAMIT Reference
Manual: GPS Analysis at MIT Release 10.6, report, Mass. Inst. of Technol.,
Cambridge, available at: http://geoweb.mit.edu/~simon/gtgk/GAMIT_Ref.pdf (last access: 25 July 2019), 2015.
Hinderer, J., de Linage, C., Boy, J.-P., Gegout, P., Masson, F., Rogister,
Y., Amalvict, M., Pfeffer, J., Little, F., Luck, B., Bayer, R., Champollion,
C., Collard, P., Le Moigne, N., Diament, M., Deroussi, S., de Viron, O.,
Biancale, R., Lemoine, J.-M., Bonvalot, S., Gabalda, G., Bock, O., Genthon,
P., Boucher, M., Favreau, G., Séguis, L., Delclaux, F., Cappelaere, B.,
Oi, M., Descloitres, M., Galle, S., Laurent, J.-P., Legchenko, A., and
Bouin, M.-N.: The GHYRAF (Gravity and Hydrology in Africa) experiment:
Description and first results, J. Geodyn., 48, 172–181, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jog.2009.09.014, 2009.
Houze Jr., R. A.: Observed structure of mesoscale convective systems and
implications for large-scale heating, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 115,
425–461, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.49711548702, 1989.
Houze Jr., R. A.: Stratiform Precipitation in Regions of Convection: A
Meteorological Paradox?, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 78, 2179–2196,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1997)078<2179:SPIROC>2.0.CO;2, 1997.
Houze Jr., R. A.: Mesoscale convective systems, Rev. Geophys., 42, RG4003,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2004RG000150, 2004.
Houze Jr., R, A., Smull, B. F., and Dodge, P.: Mesoscale Organization of
Springtime Rainstorms in Oklahoma, Mon. Weather Rev., 118, 613–654,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1990)118<0613:MOOSRI>2.0.CO;2, 1990.
Huffman, G. J., Bolvin, D. T., Nelkin, E. J., Wolff, D. B., Adler, R. F., Gu, G.,
Hong, Y., Bowman, K. P., and Stocker, E. F.: The TRMM Multisatellite
Precipitation Analysis (TMPA): Quasi-Global, Multiyear, Combined-Sensor
Precipitation Estimates at Fine Scales, J. Hydrometeorol., 8, 38–55,
https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM560.1, 2007.
Jade, S. and Vijayan, M. S. M.: GPS-based atmospheric precipitable water
vapor estimation using meteorological parameters interpolated from NCEP
global reanalysis data, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D03106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD008758, 2008.
Jade, S., Vijayan, M. S. M., Gaur, V. K., Prabhu, T. P., and Sahu, S. C.:
Estimates of precipitable water vapour from GPS data over the Indian
subcontinent, J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phy., 67, 623–635, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2004.12.010, 2005.
Janicot, S., Thorncroft, C. D., Ali, A., Asencio, N., Berry, G., Bock, O., Bourles, B., Caniaux, G., Chauvin, F., Deme, A., Kergoat, L., Lafore, J.-P., Lavaysse, C., Lebel, T., Marticorena, B., Mounier, F., Nedelec, P., Redelsperger, J.-L., Ravegnani, F., Reeves, C. E., Roca, R., de Rosnay, P., Schlager, H., Sultan, B., Tomasini, M., Ulanovsky, A., and ACMAD forecasters team: Large-scale overview of the summer monsoon over West Africa during the AMMA field experiment in 2006, Ann. Geophys., 26, 2569–2595, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-26-2569-2008, 2008.
Jarlemark, P. O. J., Emardson, T. R., and Johansson, J. M.: Wet delay
variability calculated from radiometric measurements and its role in space
geodetic parameter estimation, Radio Sci., 33, 719–730, https://doi.org/10.1029/98RS00551, 1998.
Kouba, J.: A guide to using International GPS Service (IGS) products. IGS
Central Bureau, Pasadena, available at:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/eb6c/a326892e99c1567dd7e647ba78fe7735a419.pdf (last access: 25 July 2019),
2003.
Lafore, J.-P., Flamant, C., Guichard, F., Parker, D. J., Bouniol, D., Fink,
A. H., Giraud, V., Gosset, M., Hall, N., Höller, H., Jones, S. C.,
Protat, A., Roca, R., Roux, F., Saïd, F., and Thorncroft, C.: Progress
in understanding of weather systems in West Africa, Atmos. Sci. Lett., 12,
7–12, https://doi.org/10.1002/asl.335, 2011.
Laing, A. G. and Fritsch, J. M.: Mesoscale Convective Complexes in Africa,
Mon. Weather Rev., 121, 2254–2263, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1993)121<2254:MCCIA>2.0.CO;2, 1993.
Laing, A. G., Carbone, R., Levizzani, V., and Tuttle, J.: The propagation
and diurnal cycles of deep convection in northern tropical Africa, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 134, 93–109, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.194, 2008.
Largeron, Y., Guichard, F., Bouniol, D., Couvreux, F., Kergoat L., and
Marticorena, B.: Can we use surface wind fields from meteorological
reanalyses for Sahelian dust emission simulations?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 2490–2499,,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL062938, 2015.
Larson, K. M., Small, E. E., Gutmann, E. D., Bilich, A. L., Braun, J. J.,
and Zavorotny, V. U.: Use of GPS receivers as a soil moisture network for
water cycle studies, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L24405, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL036013, 2008.
Lebel, T., Diedhiou, A., and Laurent, H.: Seasonal cycle and interannual
variability of the Sahelian rainfall at hydrological scales, J. Geophys. Res.,
108, 8389, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD001580, 2003.
Lohou, F., Kergoat, L., Guichard, F., Boone, A., Cappelaere, B., Cohard, J.-M., Demarty, J., Galle, S., Grippa, M., Peugeot, C., Ramier, D., Taylor, C. M., and Timouk, F.: Surface response to rain events throughout the West African monsoon, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3883–3898, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3883-2014, 2014.
Lothon, M., Campistron, B., Chong, M., Couvreux, F., Guichard, F., Rio, C.,
and Williams, E.: Life cycle of a mesoscale circular gust front observed by
a C-band Doppler radar in West Africa, Mon. Weather Rev., 139, 1370–1388,
https://doi.org/10.1175/2010MWR3480.1, 2011.
Lyard, F., Lefevre, F., Letellier, T., and Francis, O.: Modeling the global
ocean tides: Modern insights from FES2004, Ocean Dynam., 56, 394–415,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-006-0086-x, 2006.
MacMillan, D. S.: Atmospheric gradients from very long baseline
interferometry observations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 22, 1041–1044, https://doi.org/10.1029/95GL00887, 1995.
MacMillan, D. S. and Ma, C.: Atmospheric gradients and the VLBI terrestrial
and celestial reference frames, Geophys. Res. Lett., 24, 453–456, https://doi.org/10.1029/97GL00143, 1997.
Maranan, M., Fink, A. H., and Knippertz, P.: Rainfall types over southern West
Africa: Objective identification, climatology and synoptic environment, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 144, 1628–1648, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3345,
2018.
Mathon, V. and Laurent, H.: Life cycle of Sahelian mesoscale convective
cloud systems, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 127, 377–406, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.49712757208, 2001.
Means, J. D.: GPS Precipitable Water as a Diagnostic of the North American
Monsoon in California and Nevada, J. Climate, 26, 1432–1444, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00185.1, 2013.
Meynadier, R., Bock, O., Guichard, F., Boone, A., Roucou, P., and
Redelsperger, J.-L.: West African Monsoon water cycle: 1. A hybrid water
budget data set, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D19106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD013917, 2010a.
Meynadier, R., Bock, O., Gervois, S., Guichard, F., Redelsperger, J.-L.,
Agustí-Panareda, A., and Beljaars, A.: West African Monsoon water
cycle: 2. Assessment of numerical weather prediction water budgets, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D19107, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD013919,
2010b.
Miller, M. A. and Slingo, A.: The Arm Mobile Facility and Its First
International Deployment: Measuring Radiative Flux Divergence in West
Africa, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 88, 1229–1244, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-88-8-1229, 2007.
Nahmani, S.: GPS data processing methodologies for environmental sciences:
contributions to the study of West African Monsoon, PhD thesis, Univ.
Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France, 213 pp., 2012.
Nahmani, S., Bock, O., Bouin, M. N., Santamaría-Gómez, A., Boy, J.
P., Collilieux X., Métivier, L., Panet, I., Genthon, P., de Linage, C.,
and Wöppelmann, G.: Hydrological deformation induced by the West African
Monsoon: Comparison of GPS, GRACE and loading models, J. Geophys. Res., 117,
B05409, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JB009102, 2012.
Petit, G. and Luzum, B.: IERS Conventions 2010 (IERS Technical Note; 36),
Frankfurt am Main: Verlag des Bundesamts für Kartographie und
Geodäsie, 179 pp., ISBN 3-89888-989-6, available at: https://www.iers.org/IERS/EN/Publications/TechnicalNotes/tn36.html/ (last access: 25 July 2019), 2010.
Petrie, E. J., King, M. A., Moore, P., and Lavallée, D. A.: Higher-order
ionospheric effects on the GPS reference frame and velocities, J. Geophys. Res., 115, B03417, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JB006677, 2010.
Provod, M., Marsham, J. H., Parker, D. J., and Birch, C. E.: A
Characterization of Cold Pools in the West African Sahel, Mon. Weather Rev.,
144, 1923–1934, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-15-0023.1, 2016.
Redelsperger, J., Diongue, A., Diedhiou, A., Ceron, J., Diop, M., Gueremy,
J., and Lafore, J.: Multi-scale description of a Sahelian synoptic weather
system representative of the West African monsoon, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 128,
1229–1257, https://doi.org/10.1256/003590002320373274, 2002.
Redelsperger, J.-L., Thorncroft, C., Diedhiou, A., Lebel, T., Parker, D. J.,
and Polcher, J.: African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA): An
international research project and field campaign, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 87,
1739–1746, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-87-12-1739, 2006.
Rickenbach, T., Nieto-Ferreira R., Guy, N., and Williams, E.: Radar-observed
squall line propagation and the diurnal cycle of convection in Niamey,
Niger, during the 2006 African Monsoon and Multidisciplinary Analyses
Intensive Observing Period, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D03107, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010871, 2009.
Risi, C., Bony, S., Vimeux, F., Chong, M., and Descroix, L.: Evolution of
the stable water isotopic composition of the rain sampled along Sahelian
squall lines, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 136, 227–242, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.485, 2010.
Rochetin, N., Couvreux, F., and Guichard, F.: Morphology of breeze
circulations induced by surface flux heterogeneities and their impact on
convection initiation, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 143, 463–478, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2935, 2017.
Saastamoinen, J.: Atmospheric correction for the troposphere and
stratosphere in radio ranging satellites, in: The Use of Artificial
Satellites for Geodesy, Geoph Monog Series, vol. 15, edited by:
Henriksen, S. W., Mancini, A., and Chovitz, B. H., AGU, Washington, D.C.. USA, 247–251, https://doi.org/10.1029/GM015p0247, 1972.
Schiro, K. A., Neelin, J. D., Adams, D. K., and Lintner, B. R.: Deep Convection and Column Water Vapor over Tropical Land versus Tropical Ocean: A
Comparison between the Amazon and the Tropical Western Pacific, J. Atmos. Sci., 73, 4043–4063, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-16-0119.1, 2016.
Schmid, R., Steigenberger, P., Gendt, G., Ge, M., and Rothacher, M.:
Generation of a consistent absolute phasecenter correction model for GPS
receiver and satellite antennas, J. Geodesy, 81, 781–798, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-007-0148-y, 2007.
Selle, C. and Desai, S.: Optimization of tropospheric delay estimation
parameters by comparison of GPS-based precipitable water vapor estimates
with microwave radiometer measurements, IGS Workshop 2016, 8–12 February
2016, Sydney, NSW, Australia, available at: http://www.igs.org/assets/pdf/W2016 - PY0504 - Selle.pdf
(last access: 27 November 2018), 2016.
Serra, Y. L., Adams, D. K., Minjarez-Sosa, C., Moker, J. M., Arellano, A. F.,
Castro, C. L., Quintanar, A. I., Alatorre, L., Granados, A., Vazquez, G. E.,
Holub, K., and DeMets, C.: The North American Monsoon GPS Transect
Experiment 2013, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 97, 2103–2115, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00250.1, 2016.
Sherwood, S. C., Roca, R., Weckwerth, T. M., and Andronova, N. G.:
Tropospheric water vapor, convection, and climate, Rev. Geophys., 48, RG2001,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2009RG000301, 2010.
Taylor, C. M., Belušić, D., Guichard, F., Parker, D. J., Vischel, T.,
Bock, O., Harris, P. P., Janicot, S., Klein, C., and Panthou, G.: Frequency
of extreme Sahelian storms tripled since 1982 in satellite observations,
Nature, 544, 475–478, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22069, 2017.
Zipser, E. J.: Mesoscale and Convective–Scale Downdrafts as Distinct
Components of Squall-Line Structure, Mon. Weather Rev., 105, 1568–1589,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1977)105<1568:MACDAD>2.0.CO;2, 1977.
Zumberge, J. F., Heflin, M. B., Jefferson, D. C., Watkins, M. M., and
Webb, F. H.: Precise point positioning for the efficient and robust analysis of GPS
data from large networks, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 5005–5017, https://doi.org/10.1029/96JB03860, 1997.
Short summary
A mesoscale convective system (MCS) is a cloud system that occurs in connection with an ensemble of thunderstorms and produces a contiguous precipitation area of the order of 100 km or more. Numerous questions related to MCSs remain poorly answered (e.g., their life cycle, and interactions between physical processes and atmospheric circulations). This work shows how a GPS technique can provide relevant and complementary information on MCSs passing over or in the vicinity of observation stations.
A mesoscale convective system (MCS) is a cloud system that occurs in connection with an ensemble...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint