Abstract. This paper presents the Meso-NH model version 5.4. Meso-NH is an atmospheric non hydrostatic research model that is applied to a broad range of resolutions, from synoptic to turbulent scales, and is designed for studies of physics and chemistry. It is a limited-area model employing advanced numerical techniques, including monotonic advection schemes for scalar transport and fourth-order centered or odd-order WENO advection schemes for momentum. The model includes state-of-the-art physics parameterization schemes that are important to represent convective-scale phenomena and turbulent eddies, as well as flows at larger scales. In addition, Meso-NH has been expanded to provide capabilities for a range of Earth system prediction applications such as chemistry and aerosols, electricity and lightning, hydrology, wildland fires, volcanic eruptions, and cyclones with ocean coupling. Here, we present the main innovations to the dynamics and physics of the code since the pioneer paper of Lafore et al. (1998) and provide an overview of recent applications and couplings.

The representation of tropical precipitation is evaluated across three generations of models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), phases 3, 5 and 6. Compared to state-of-the-art observations, improvements in tropical precipitation in the CMIP6 models are identified for some metrics, but we find no general improvement in tropical precipitation on different temporal and spatial scales. Our results indicate overall little changes across the CMIP phases for the summer monsoons, the double-ITCZ bias and the diurnal cycle of tropical precipitation. We find a reduced amount of drizzle events in CMIP6, but tropical precipitation occurs still too frequently. Continuous improvements across the CMIP phases are identified for the number of consecutive dry days, the representation of modes of variability, namely the Madden-Julian Oscillation and the El Niño Southern Oscillation, as well as the trends in dry months in the 20th century. The observed positive trend in extreme wet months is, however, not captured by any of the CMIP phases, which simulate negative trends for extremely wet months in the 20th century. The regional biases are larger than a climate-change signal one hopes to use the models to identify. Given the pace of climate change as compared to the pace of model improvements to simulate tropical precipitation, we question the past strategy of the development of the present class of global climate models as the mainstay of the scientific response to climate change. We suggest to explore alternative approaches such as high-resolution storm-resolving models that can offer better prospects to inform us about how tropical precipitation might change with anthropogenic warming.

A large-eddy simulation (LES) was performed for a Hector thunderstorm observed on 30 November 2005 over the Tiwi Islands. On that day, ice particles reaching 19-km altitude were measured. The LES developed overshooting updrafts penetrating the stratosphere that compared well with observations. Much of the water injected in the form of ice particles sublimated in the lower stratosphere. Net hydration was found with a 16% increase in water vapour. While moistening appeared to be robust with respect to the grid spacing used, grid spacing on the order of 100 m may be necessary for a reliable estimate of hydration.

Overshoots are convective air parcels that rise beyond their level of neutral buoyancy. A giga-large-eddy simulation (100-m cubic resolution) of “Hector the Convector,” a deep convective system that regularly forms in northern Australia, is analyzed to identify overshoots and quantify the effect of hydration of the stratosphere. In the simulation, 1507 individual overshoots were identified, and 46 of them were tracked over more than 10 min. Hydration of the stratosphere occurs through a sequence of mechanisms: overshoot penetration into the stratosphere, followed by entrainment of stratospheric air and then by efficient turbulent mixing between the air in the overshoot and the entrained warmer air, leaving the subsequent mixed air at about the maximum overshooting altitude. The time scale of these mechanisms is about 1 min. Two categories of overshoots are distinguished: those that significantly hydrate the stratosphere and those that have little direct hydration effect. The former reach higher altitudes and hence entrain and mix with air that has higher potential temperatures. The resulting mixed air has higher temperatures and higher saturation mixing ratios. Therefore, a greater amount of the hydrometeors carried by the original overshoot sublimates to form a persistent vapor-enriched layer. This makes the maximum overshooting altitude the key prognostic for the parameterization of deep convection to represent the correct overshoot transport. One common convection parameterization is tested, and the results suggest that the overshoot downward acceleration due to negative buoyancy is too large relative to that predicted by the numerical simulations and needs to be reduced.

Abstract. The source and pathway of the hydration patch in the TTL (tropical tropopause layer) that was measured during the Stratospheric and upper tropospheric processes for better climate predictions (StratoClim) field campaign during the Asian summer monsoon in 2017 and its connection to convective overshoots are investigated. During flight no. 7, two remarkable layers are measured in the TTL, namely (1) the moist layer (ML) with a water vapour content of 4.8–5.7 ppmv in altitudes of 18–19 km in the lower stratosphere and (2) the ice layer (IL) with ice content up to 1.9 eq. ppmv (equivalent parts per million by volume) in altitudes of 17–18 km in the upper troposphere at around 06:30 UTC on 8 August to the south of Kathmandu (Nepal). A Meso-NH convection-permitting simulation succeeds in reproducing the characteristics of the ML and IL. Through analysis, we show that the ML and IL are generated by convective overshoots that occurred over the Sichuan Basin about 1.5 d before. Overshooting clouds develop at altitudes up to 19 km, hydrating the lower stratosphere of up to 20 km with 6401 t of water vapour by a strong-to-moderate mixing of the updraughts with the stratospheric air. A few hours after the initial overshooting phase, a hydration patch is generated, and a large amount of water vapour (above 18 ppmv) remains at even higher altitudes up to 20.5 km while the anvil cloud top descends to 18.5 km. At the same time, a great part of the hydrometeors falls shortly, and the water vapour concentration in the ML and IL decreases due to turbulent diffusion by mixing with the tropospheric air, ice nucleation, and water vapour deposition. As the hydration patch continues to travel toward the south of Kathmandu, tropospheric tracer concentration increases up to ∼30 % and 70 % in the ML and IL, respectively. The air mass in the layers becomes gradually diffused, and it has less and less water vapour and ice content by mixing with the dry tropospheric air.

Abstract. In the framework of the Fennec international programme, a field campaign was conducted in June 2011 over the western Sahara. It led to the first observational data set ever obtained that documents the dynamics, thermodynamics and composition of the Saharan atmospheric boundary layer (SABL) under the influence of the heat low. In support to the aircraft operation, four dust forecasts were run daily at low and high resolutions with convection-parameterizing and convection-permitting models, respectively. The unique airborne and ground-based data sets allowed the first ever intercomparison of dust forecasts over the western Sahara. At monthly scale, large aerosol optical depths (AODs) were forecast over the Sahara, a feature observed by satellite retrievals but with different magnitudes. The AOD intensity was correctly predicted by the high-resolution models, while it was underestimated by the low-resolution models. This was partly because of the generation of strong near-surface wind associated with thunderstorm-related density currents that could only be reproduced by models representing convection explicitly. Such models yield emissions mainly in the afternoon that dominate the total emission over the western fringes of the Adrar des Iforas and the Aïr Mountains in the high-resolution forecasts. Over the western Sahara, where the harmattan contributes up to 80 % of dust emission, all the models were successful in forecasting the deep wellmixed SABL. Some of them, however, missed the large nearsurface dust concentration generated by density currents and low-level winds. This feature, observed repeatedly by the airborne lidar, was partly forecast by one high-resolution model only.

Abstract. The science guiding the EUREC4A campaign and its measurements is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. Through its ability to characterize processes operating across a wide range of scales, EUREC4A marked a turning point in our ability to observationally study factors influencing clouds in the trades, how they will respond to warming, and their link to other components of the earth system, such as upper-ocean processes or the life cycle of particulate matter. This characterization was made possible by thousands (2500) of sondes distributed to measure circulations on meso- (200 km) and larger (500 km) scales, roughly 400 h of flight time by four heavily instrumented research aircraft; four global-class research vessels; an advanced ground-based cloud observatory; scores of autonomous observing platforms operating in the upper ocean (nearly 10 000 profiles), lower atmosphere (continuous profiling), and along the air–sea interface; a network of water stable isotopologue measurements; targeted tasking of satellite remote sensing; and modeling with a new generation of weather and climate models. In addition to providing an outline of the novel measurements and their composition into a unified and coordinated campaign, the six distinct scientific facets that EUREC4A explored – from North Brazil Current rings to turbulence-induced clustering of cloud droplets and its influence on warm-rain formation – are presented along with an overview of EUREC4A's outreach activities, environmental impact, and guidelines for scientific practice. Track data for all platforms are standardized and accessible at https://doi.org/10.25326/165 (Stevens, 2021), and a film documenting the campaign is provided as a video supplement.

The dynamics of Hector the Convector, which overshot into the stratosphere on 30 November 2005 over the Tiwi Islands, Australia, is investigated using a giga-large-eddy simulation with a 100-m cubic mesh. Individual updrafts, defined as 3D objects with vertical velocity above 10 m s−1 are identified. Among the 20 000 updrafts formed during the most intense phase, only a dozen were more than 4 km tall. The two tallest updrafts accounted for more than 90% of the total vertical mass flux through the tropical tropopause layer. Their locations were determined by low-level convergence lines first created by the sea breeze in the morning, then enhanced by cold pools due to cumulus congestus. They finally reinforced each other as they moved inland and intersected. The two tallest updrafts that overshot the tropopause were contrasted with those occurring 1 h earlier and later. They presented larger widths (up to 8 km), greater buoyancy (up to 0.1 m s−2), stronger vertical velocities (up to 50 m s−1), and larger hydrometeor contents (more than 10 g kg−1). They kept their core weakly diluted on their way to the stratosphere with an entrainment rate as low as 0.08 km−1. Both the low-level convergence lines intensified by cold pools and the reduced mixing in the troposphere were found to be the determinant for the transition from deep to very deep convection.