Abstract. The complex microphysical details of cirrus seeding with ice nucleating particles (INPs) in numerical simulations are often mimicked by increasing ice crystal sedimentation velocities. So far it has not been tested whether these results are comparable to geoengineering simulations in which cirrus clouds are seeded with INPs. We compare simulations where the ice crystal sedimentation velocity is increased at temperatures colder than − 35 • C with simulations of cirrus seeding with INPs using the ECHAM-HAM general circulation model. The radiative flux response of the two methods shows a similar behaviour in terms of annual and seasonal averages. Both methods decrease surface temperature but increase precipitation in response to a decreased atmospheric stability. Moreover, simulations of seeding with INPs lead to a decrease in liquid clouds, which counteracts part of the cooling due to changes in cirrus clouds. The liquid cloud response is largely avoided in a simulation where seeding occurs during night only. Simulations with increased ice crystal sedimentation velocity, however, lead to counteracting mixed-phase cloud responses. The increased sedimentation velocity simulations can counteract up to 60 % of the radiative effect of CO 2 doubling with a maximum net top-ofthe-atmosphere forcing of −2.2 W m −2 . They induce a 30 % larger surface temperature response, due to their lower altitude of maximum diabatic forcing compared with simulations of seeding with INPs.
Tropical cyclones pose a significant flood risk to vast land regions in their path because of extreme precipitation. Thus it is imperative to quantitatively assess this risk. This study compares exceedance frequencies of tropical cyclone precipitation derived from two independent observational datasets with those estimated using a tropical cyclone rainfall algorithm applied to large sets of synthetic tropical cyclones. The modeled rainfall compares reasonably well to observed rainfall across much of the southern United States but does less well in the mid-Atlantic states. Possible causes of this disparity are discussed.
Abstract. This work presents a characterisation of mesocyclone occurrence and frequency in the Alpine region, as observed from the Swiss operational radar network; 5 years of radar data are processed with a thunderstorm detection and tracking algorithm and subsequently with a new mesocyclone detection algorithm. A quality assessment of the radar domain provides additional information on the reliability of the tracking algorithms throughout the domain. The resulting data set provides the first insight into the spatiotemporal distribution of mesocyclones in the Swiss domain, with a more detailed focus on the influence of synoptic weather, diurnal cycle and terrain. Both on the northern and southern side of the Alps mesocyclonic signatures in thunderstorms occur regularly. The regions with the highest occurrence are predominantly the Southern Prealps and to a lesser degree the Northern Prealps. The parallels to hail research over the same region are discussed.
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