Articles | Volume 2, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1225-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1225-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
16 Dec 2021
Research article |
| 16 Dec 2021
| 16 Dec 2021
A characterisation of Alpine mesocyclone occurrence
LTE, EPFL, GR C2 565, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
RSN, MeteoSwiss, Via ai Monti 146, 6605 Locarno, Switzerland
Urs Germann
RSN, MeteoSwiss, Via ai Monti 146, 6605 Locarno, Switzerland
Marco Gabella
RSN, MeteoSwiss, Via ai Monti 146, 6605 Locarno, Switzerland
Alexis Berne
LTE, EPFL, GR C2 565, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
Related authors
Jannick Fischer, Pieter Groenemeijer, Alois Holzer, Monika Feldmann, Katharina Schröer, Francesco Battaglioli, Lisa Schielicke, Tomáš Púčik, Bogdan Antonescu, Christoph Gatzen, and TIM Partners
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 2629–2656, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2629-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2629-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Strong thunderstorms have been studied mainly over flat terrain in the past. However, they are particularly frequent near European mountain ranges, so observations of such storms are needed. This article gives an overview of our existing knowledge on this topic and presents plans for a large European field campaign with the goals to fill the knowledge gaps, validate tools for thunderstorm warnings, and improve numerical weather prediction near mountains.
Monika Feldmann, Daniela I. V. Domeisen, and Olivia Martius
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2296, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2296, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Severe thunderstorm outbreaks are a source of major damage across Europe. Using historical data, we analysed the large-scale weather patterns that lead to these outbreaks in eight different regions. Three types of regions emerge: those limited by temperature, limited by moisture and overall favourable for thunderstorms; consistent with their associated weather patterns and the general climate. These findings help explain regional differences and provide a basis for future forecast improvements.
Jannick Fischer, Pieter Groenemeijer, Alois Holzer, Monika Feldmann, Katharina Schröer, Francesco Battaglioli, Lisa Schielicke, Tomáš Púčik, Bogdan Antonescu, Christoph Gatzen, and TIM Partners
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 2629–2656, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2629-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2629-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Strong thunderstorms have been studied mainly over flat terrain in the past. However, they are particularly frequent near European mountain ranges, so observations of such storms are needed. This article gives an overview of our existing knowledge on this topic and presents plans for a large European field campaign with the goals to fill the knowledge gaps, validate tools for thunderstorm warnings, and improve numerical weather prediction near mountains.
Kevin Ohneiser, Patric Seifert, Willi Schimmel, Fabian Senf, Tom Gaudek, Martin Radenz, Audrey Teisseire, Veronika Ettrichrätz, Teresa Vogl, Nina Maherndl, Nils Pfeifer, Jan Henneberger, Anna J. Miller, Nadja Omanovic, Christopher Fuchs, Huiying Zhang, Fabiola Ramelli, Robert Spirig, Anton Kötsche, Heike Kalesse-Los, Maximilian Maahn, Heather Corden, Alexis Berne, Majid Hajipour, Hannes Griesche, Julian Hofer, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Albert Ansmann, and Holger Baars
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2482, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2482, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study focuses on a seeder-feeder cloud system on 8 Jan 2024 in Eriswil, Switzerland. It is shown how the interaction of these cloud systems changes the cloud microphysical properties and the precipitation patterns. A big set of advanced remote-sensing techniques and retrieval algorithms are applied, so that a detailed view on the seeder-feeder cloud system is available. The gained knowledge can be used to improve weather models and weather forecasts.
Monika Feldmann, Daniela I. V. Domeisen, and Olivia Martius
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2296, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2296, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Severe thunderstorm outbreaks are a source of major damage across Europe. Using historical data, we analysed the large-scale weather patterns that lead to these outbreaks in eight different regions. Three types of regions emerge: those limited by temperature, limited by moisture and overall favourable for thunderstorms; consistent with their associated weather patterns and the general climate. These findings help explain regional differences and provide a basis for future forecast improvements.
Valentin Wiener, Étienne Vignon, Thomas Caton Harrison, Christophe Genthon, Felipe Toledo, Guylaine Canut-Rocafort, Yann Meurdesoif, and Alexis Berne
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2046, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2046, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Katabatic winds are a key feature of the climate of Antarctica, but substantial biases remain in their representation in atmospheric models. This study investigates a katabatic wind event in the ICOLMDZ model using in-situ observations. The framework allows to disentangle which part of the bias is due to horizontal resolution, to parameter calibration and to structural deficiencies in the model. We underline in particular the need to refine the physics of the model snow cover.
Marc Schneebeli, Andreas Leuenberger, Philipp J. Schmid, Jacopo Grazioli, Heather Corden, Alexis Berne, Patrick Kennedy, Jim George, Francesc Junyent, and V. Chandrasekar
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1702, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1702, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A new technique for the end-to-end calibration of weather radars is introduced. Highly precise artificial radar targets are generated with a radar target simulator and serve as a calibration reference for weather radar observables like reflectivity and Doppler velocity. The system allows to investigate and correct any biases associated with weather radar observations.
Frédéric G. Jordan, Clément Cosson, Marco Gabella, Ioannis V. Sideris, Adrien Liernur, Alexis Berne, and Urs Germann
Abstr. Int. Cartogr. Assoc., 9, 19, https://doi.org/10.5194/ica-abs-9-19-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/ica-abs-9-19-2025, 2025
Alfonso Ferrone, Jérôme Kopp, Martin Lainer, Marco Gabella, Urs Germann, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7143–7168, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7143-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7143-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Estimates of hail size have been collected by a network of hail sensors, installed in three regions of Switzerland, since September 2018. In this study, we use a technique called “double-moment normalization” to model the distribution of diameter sizes. The parameters of the method have been defined over 70 % of the dataset and tested over the remaining 30 %. An independent distribution of hail sizes, collected by a drone, has also been used to evaluate the method.
Kunfeng Gao, Franziska Vogel, Romanos Foskinis, Stergios Vratolis, Maria I. Gini, Konstantinos Granakis, Anne-Claire Billault-Roux, Paraskevi Georgakaki, Olga Zografou, Prodromos Fetfatzis, Alexis Berne, Alexandros Papayannis, Konstantinos Eleftheridadis, Ottmar Möhler, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9939–9974, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9939-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9939-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Ice nucleating particle (INP) concentrations are required for correct predictions of clouds and precipitation in a changing climate, but they are poorly constrained in climate models. We unravel source contributions to INPs in the eastern Mediterranean and find that biological particles are important, regardless of their origin. The parameterizations developed exhibit superior performance and enable models to consider biological-particle effects on INPs.
Jérôme Kopp, Alessandro Hering, Urs Germann, and Olivia Martius
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4529–4552, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4529-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4529-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a verification of two products based on weather radars to detect the presence of hail and estimate its size. Radar products are remote detection of hail, so they must be verified against ground-based observations. We use reports from users of the Swiss Weather Services phone app to do the verification. We found that the product estimating the presence of hail provides fair results but that it should be recalibrated and that estimating the hail size with radar is more challenging.
Loris Foresti, Bernat Puigdomènech Treserras, Daniele Nerini, Aitor Atencia, Marco Gabella, Ioannis V. Sideris, Urs Germann, and Isztar Zawadzki
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 31, 259–286, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-259-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-259-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We compared two ways of defining the phase space of low-dimensional attractors describing the evolution of radar precipitation fields. The first defines the phase space by the domain-scale statistics of precipitation fields, such as their mean, spatial and temporal correlations. The second uses principal component analysis to account for the spatial distribution of precipitation. To represent different climates, radar archives over the United States and the Swiss Alpine region were used.
Martin Lainer, Killian P. Brennan, Alessandro Hering, Jérôme Kopp, Samuel Monhart, Daniel Wolfensberger, and Urs Germann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2539–2557, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2539-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2539-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses deep learning (the Mask R-CNN model) on drone-based photogrammetric data of hail on the ground to estimate hail size distributions (HSDs). Traditional hail sensors' limited areas complicate the full HSD retrieval. The HSD of a supercell event on 20 June 2021 is retrieved and contains > 18 000 hailstones. The HSD is compared to automatic hail sensor measurements and those of weather-radar-based MESHS. Investigations into ground hail melting are performed by five drone flights.
Valentin Wiener, Marie-Laure Roussel, Christophe Genthon, Étienne Vignon, Jacopo Grazioli, and Alexis Berne
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 821–836, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-821-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-821-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents 7 years of data from a precipitation radar deployed at the Dumont d'Urville station in East Antarctica. The main characteristics of the dataset are outlined in a short statistical study. Interannual and seasonal variability are also investigated. Then, we extensively describe the processing method to retrieve snowfall profiles from the radar data. Lastly, a brief comparison is made with two climate models as an application example of the dataset.
Sophie Erb, Elias Graf, Yanick Zeder, Simone Lionetti, Alexis Berne, Bernard Clot, Gian Lieberherr, Fiona Tummon, Pascal Wullschleger, and Benoît Crouzy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 441–451, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-441-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-441-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we focus on an automatic bioaerosol measurement instrument and investigate the impact of using its fluorescence measurement for pollen identification. The fluorescence signal is used together with a pair of images from the same instrument to identify single pollen grains via neural networks. We test whether considering fluorescence as a supplementary input improves the pollen identification performance by comparing three different neural networks.
Alfonso Ferrone, Étienne Vignon, Andrea Zonato, and Alexis Berne
The Cryosphere, 17, 4937–4956, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4937-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4937-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In austral summer 2019/2020, three K-band Doppler profilers were deployed across the Sør Rondane Mountains, south of the Belgian base Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. Their measurements, along with atmospheric simulations and reanalyses, have been used to study the spatial variability in precipitation over the region, as well as investigate the interaction between the complex terrain and the typical flow associated with precipitating systems.
Marco Gabella, Martin Lainer, Daniel Wolfensberger, and Jacopo Grazioli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4409–4422, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4409-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4409-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A still wind turbine observed with a fixed-pointing radar antenna has shown distinctive polarimetric signatures: the correlation coefficient between the two orthogonal polarization states was persistently equal to 1. The differential reflectivity and the radar reflectivity factors were also stable in time. Over 2 min (2000 Hz, 128 pulses were used; consequently, the sampling time was 64 ms), the standard deviation of the differential backscattering phase shift was only a few degrees.
Anne-Claire Billault-Roux, Paraskevi Georgakaki, Josué Gehring, Louis Jaffeux, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Pierre Coutris, Athanasios Nenes, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10207–10234, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10207-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10207-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Secondary ice production plays a key role in clouds and precipitation. In this study, we analyze radar measurements from a snowfall event in the Jura Mountains. Complex signatures are observed, which reveal that ice crystals were formed through various processes. An analysis of multi-sensor data suggests that distinct ice multiplication processes were taking place. Both the methods used and the insights gained through this case study contribute to a better understanding of snowfall microphysics.
Jérôme Kopp, Agostino Manzato, Alessandro Hering, Urs Germann, and Olivia Martius
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3487–3503, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3487-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3487-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present the first study of extended field observations made by a network of 80 automatic hail sensors from Switzerland. The sensors record the exact timing of hailstone impacts, providing valuable information about the local duration of hailfall. We found that the majority of hailfalls lasts just a few minutes and that most hailstones, including the largest, fall during a first phase of high hailstone density, while a few remaining and smaller hailstones fall in a second low-density phase.
Alfonso Ferrone and Alexis Berne
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1115–1132, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1115-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1115-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This article presents the datasets collected between November 2019 and February 2020 in the vicinity of the Belgian research base Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. Five meteorological radars, a multi-angle snowflake camera, three weather stations, and two radiometers have been deployed at five sites, up to a maximum distance of 30 km from the base. Their varied locations allow the study of spatial variability in snowfall and its interaction with the complex terrain in the region.
Matteo Guidicelli, Matthias Huss, Marco Gabella, and Nadine Salzmann
The Cryosphere, 17, 977–1002, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-977-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-977-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Spatio-temporal reconstruction of winter glacier mass balance is important for assessing long-term impacts of climate change. However, high-altitude regions significantly lack reliable observations, which is limiting the calibration of glaciological and hydrological models. We aim at improving knowledge on the spatio-temporal variations in winter glacier mass balance by exploring the combination of data from reanalyses and direct snow accumulation observations on glaciers with machine learning.
Anne-Claire Billault-Roux, Gionata Ghiggi, Louis Jaffeux, Audrey Martini, Nicolas Viltard, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 911–940, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-911-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-911-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Better understanding and modeling snowfall properties and processes is relevant to many fields, ranging from weather forecasting to aircraft safety. Meteorological radars can be used to gain insights into the microphysics of snowfall. In this work, we propose a new method to retrieve snowfall properties from measurements of radars with different frequencies. It relies on an original deep-learning framework, which incorporates knowledge of the underlying physics, i.e., electromagnetic scattering.
Claudia Mignani, Lukas Zimmermann, Rigel Kivi, Alexis Berne, and Franz Conen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13551–13568, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13551-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13551-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We determined over the course of 8 winter months the phase of clouds associated with snowfall in Northern Finland using radiosondes and observations of ice particle habits at ground level. We found that precipitating clouds were extending from near ground to at least 2.7 km altitude and approximately three-quarters of them were likely glaciated. Possible moisture sources and ice formation processes are discussed.
Étienne Vignon, Lea Raillard, Christophe Genthon, Massimo Del Guasta, Andrew J. Heymsfield, Jean-Baptiste Madeleine, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12857–12872, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12857-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12857-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The near-surface atmosphere over the Antarctic Plateau is cold and pristine and resembles to a certain extent the high troposphere where cirrus clouds form. In this study, we use innovative humidity measurements at Concordia Station to study the formation of ice fogs at temperatures <−40°C. We provide observational evidence that ice fogs can form through the homogeneous freezing of solution aerosols, a common nucleation pathway for cirrus clouds.
Alfonso Ferrone, Anne-Claire Billault-Roux, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3569–3592, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3569-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3569-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The Micro Rain Radar PRO (MRR-PRO) is a meteorological radar, with a relevant set of features for deployment in remote locations. We developed an algorithm, named ERUO, for the processing of its measurements of snowfall. The algorithm addresses typical issues of the raw spectral data, such as interference lines, but also improves the quality and sensitivity of the radar variables. ERUO has been evaluated over four different datasets collected in Antarctica and in the Swiss Jura.
Jeong-Su Ko, Kyo-Sun Sunny Lim, Kwonil Kim, Gyuwon Lee, Gregory Thompson, and Alexis Berne
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 4529–4553, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4529-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4529-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluates the performance of the four microphysics parameterizations, the WDM6, WDM7, Thompson, and Morrison schemes, in simulating snowfall events during the ICE-POP 2018 field campaign. Eight snowfall events are selected and classified into three categories (cold-low, warm-low, and air–sea interaction cases). The evaluation focuses on the simulated hydrometeors, microphysics budgets, wind fields, and precipitation using the measurement data.
Jussi Leinonen, Ulrich Hamann, Urs Germann, and John R. Mecikalski
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 577–597, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-577-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-577-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluate the usefulness of different data sources and variables to the short-term prediction (
nowcasting) of severe thunderstorms using machine learning. Machine-learning models are trained with data from weather radars, satellite images, lightning detection and weather forecasts and with terrain elevation data. We analyze the benefits provided by each of the data sources to predicting hazards (heavy precipitation, lightning and hail) caused by the thunderstorms.
Paraskevi Georgakaki, Georgia Sotiropoulou, Étienne Vignon, Anne-Claire Billault-Roux, Alexis Berne, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1965–1988, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1965-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1965-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The modelling study focuses on the importance of ice multiplication processes in orographic mixed-phase clouds, which is one of the least understood cloud types in the climate system. We show that the consideration of ice seeding and secondary ice production through ice–ice collisional breakup is essential for correct predictions of precipitation in mountainous terrain, with important implications for radiation processes.
Hélène Barras, Olivia Martius, Luca Nisi, Katharina Schroeer, Alessandro Hering, and Urs Germann
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 1167–1185, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1167-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1167-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In Switzerland hail may occur several days in a row. Such multi-day hail events may cause significant damage, and understanding and forecasting these events is important. Using reanalysis data we show that weather systems over Europe move slower before and during multi-day hail events compared to single hail days. Surface temperatures are typically warmer and the air more humid over Switzerland and winds are slower on multi-day hail clusters. These results may be used for hail forecasting.
Jussi Leinonen, Jacopo Grazioli, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6851–6866, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6851-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6851-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Measuring the shape, size and mass of a large number of snowflakes is a challenging task; it is hard to achieve in an automatic and instrumented manner. We present a method to retrieve these properties of individual snowflakes using as input a triplet of images/pictures automatically collected by a multi-angle snowflake camera (MASC) instrument. Our method, based on machine learning, is trained on artificially generated snowflakes and evaluated on 3D-printed snowflake replicas.
Marc Schwaerzel, Dominik Brunner, Fabian Jakub, Claudia Emde, Brigitte Buchmann, Alexis Berne, and Gerrit Kuhlmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6469–6482, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6469-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6469-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
NO2 maps from airborne imaging remote sensing often appear much smoother than one would expect from high-resolution model simulations of NO2 over cities, despite the small ground-pixel size of the sensors. Our case study over Zurich, using the newly implemented building module of the MYSTIC radiative transfer solver, shows that the 3D effect can explain part of the smearing and that building shadows cause a noticeable underestimation and noise in the measured NO2 columns.
Anna Špačková, Vojtěch Bareš, Martin Fencl, Marc Schleiss, Joël Jaffrain, Alexis Berne, and Jörg Rieckermann
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4219–4240, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4219-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4219-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
An original dataset of microwave signal attenuation and rainfall variables was collected during 1-year-long field campaign. The monitored 38 GHz dual-polarized commercial microwave link with a short sampling resolution (4 s) was accompanied by five disdrometers and three rain gauges along its path. Antenna radomes were temporarily shielded for approximately half of the campaign period to investigate antenna wetting impacts.
Paraskevi Georgakaki, Aikaterini Bougiatioti, Jörg Wieder, Claudia Mignani, Fabiola Ramelli, Zamin A. Kanji, Jan Henneberger, Maxime Hervo, Alexis Berne, Ulrike Lohmann, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10993–11012, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10993-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10993-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol and cloud observations coupled with a droplet activation parameterization was used to investigate the aerosol–cloud droplet link in alpine mixed-phase clouds. Predicted droplet number, Nd, agrees with observations and never exceeds a characteristic “limiting droplet number”, Ndlim, which depends solely on σw. Nd becomes velocity limited when it is within 50 % of Ndlim. Identifying when dynamical changes control Nd variability is central for understanding aerosol–cloud interactions.
Noémie Planat, Josué Gehring, Étienne Vignon, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4543–4564, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4543-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4543-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We implement a new method to identify microphysical processes during cold precipitation events based on the sign of the vertical gradient of polarimetric radar variables. We analytically asses the meteorological conditions for this vertical analysis to hold, apply it on two study cases and successfully compare it with other methods informing about the microphysics. Finally, we are able to obtain the main vertical structure and characteristics of the different processes during these study cases.
Martin Lainer, Jordi Figueras i Ventura, Zaira Schauwecker, Marco Gabella, Montserrat F.-Bolaños, Reto Pauli, and Jacopo Grazioli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3541–3560, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3541-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3541-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We show results from two unique measurement campaigns aimed at better understanding effects of large wind turbines on radar returns by deploying a mobile X-band weather radar system in the proximity of a small wind park. Measurements were taken in 24/7 operation with dedicated scan strategies to retrieve the variability and most extreme values of reflectivity and radar cross-section of the wind turbines. The findings are useful for wind turbine interference mitigation measures in radar systems.
Daniel Wolfensberger, Marco Gabella, Marco Boscacci, Urs Germann, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3169–3193, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3169-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3169-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, we present a novel quantitative precipitation estimation method for Switzerland that uses random forests, an ensemble-based machine learning technique. The estimator has been trained with a database of 4 years of ground and radar observations. The results of an in-depth evaluation indicate that, compared with the more classical method in use at MeteoSwiss, this novel estimator is able to reduce both the average error and bias of the predictions.
Anne-Claire Billault-Roux and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2749–2769, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2749-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2749-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In the context of climate studies, understanding the role of clouds on a global and local scale is of paramount importance. One aspect is the quantification of cloud liquid water, which impacts the Earth’s radiative balance. This is routinely achieved with radiometers operating at different frequencies. In this study, we propose an approach that uses a single-frequency radiometer and that can be applied at any location to retrieve vertically integrated quantities of liquid water and water vapor.
Maxi Boettcher, Andreas Schäfler, Michael Sprenger, Harald Sodemann, Stefan Kaufmann, Christiane Voigt, Hans Schlager, Donato Summa, Paolo Di Girolamo, Daniele Nerini, Urs Germann, and Heini Wernli
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5477–5498, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5477-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5477-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Warm conveyor belts (WCBs) are important airstreams in extratropical cyclones, often leading to the formation of intense precipitation. We present a case study that involves aircraft, lidar and radar observations of water and clouds in a WCB ascending from western Europe across the Alps towards the Baltic Sea during the field campaigns HyMeX and T-NAWDEX-Falcon in October 2012. A probabilistic trajectory measure and an airborne tracer experiment were used to confirm the long pathway of the WCB.
Rebecca Gugerli, Matteo Guidicelli, Marco Gabella, Matthias Huss, and Nadine Salzmann
Adv. Sci. Res., 18, 7–20, https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-18-7-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-18-7-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
To obtain reliable snowfall estimates in high mountain remains a challenge. This study uses daily snow water equivalent (SWE) estimates by a cosmic ray sensor on two Swiss glaciers to assess three
readily-available high-quality precipitation products. We find a large bias between in situ SWE and snowfall, which differs among the precipitation products, the two sites, the winter seasons and in situ meteorological conditions. All products have great potential for various applications in the Alps.
Josué Gehring, Alfonso Ferrone, Anne-Claire Billault-Roux, Nikola Besic, Kwang Deuk Ahn, GyuWon Lee, and Alexis Berne
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 417–433, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-417-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-417-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This article describes a dataset of precipitation and cloud measurements collected from November 2017 to March 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The dataset includes weather radar data and images of snowflakes. It allows for studying the snowfall intensity; wind conditions; and shape, size and fall speed of snowflakes. Classifications of the types of snowflakes show that aggregates of ice crystals were dominant. This dataset represents a unique opportunity to study snowfall in this region.
Georgia Sotiropoulou, Étienne Vignon, Gillian Young, Hugh Morrison, Sebastian J. O'Shea, Thomas Lachlan-Cope, Alexis Berne, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 755–771, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-755-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-755-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Summer clouds have a significant impact on the radiation budget of the Antarctic surface and thus on ice-shelf melting. However, these are poorly represented in climate models due to errors in their microphysical structure, including the number of ice crystals that they contain. We show that breakup from ice particle collisions can substantially magnify the ice crystal number concentration with significant implications for surface radiation. This process is currently missing in climate models.
Cited articles
Allen, J. T.: Climate Change and Severe Thunderstorms, January, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science, Oxford University Press, Oxford, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.62, 2018. a
AMS Glossary of Meteorology: Effective earth radius model, https://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Effective_earth_radius (last access: 4 October 2021), 2012. a
Avolio, E., Nisi, L., Panziera, L., Peyraud, L., and Miglietta, M. M.: A multi-sensor and modeling analysis of a severe convective storm in Lake Maggiore area (northwestern Italy), Atmos. Res., 242, 105008, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2020.105008, 2020. a
Barras, H., Hering, A., Martynov, A., Noti, P. A., Germann, U., and Martius, O.: Experiences with >50,000 crowdsourced hail reports in Switzerland, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 100, 1429–1440, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0090.1, 2019. a, b
Barras, H., Martius, O., Nisi, L., Schroeer, K., Hering, A., and Germann, U.: Multi-day hail clusters and isolated hail days in Switzerland – large-scale flow conditions and precursors, Weather Clim. Dynam. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2021-25, in review, 2021. a, b
Beucher, S. and Lantuejoul, C.: Use of watersheds in contour detection, International workshop on image processing: Real-time Edge and Motion Detection/Estimation, available at: https://people.cmm.minesparis.psl.eu/users/beucher/publi/watershed.pdf (last access: 8 October 2021), 1979. a
Blair, S. F.,
Laflin, J. M., Cavanaugh, D. E., Sanders, K. J., Currens, S. R.,
Pullin, J. I., Cooper, D. T., Deroche, D. R., Leighton, J. W.,
Fritchie, R. V., Mezeul II, M. J., Goudeau, B. T., Kreller, S. J., Bosco, J. J., Kelly, C. M., and Mallinson, H. M.: High-Resolution Hail Observations: Implications for NWS Warning Operations, Weather Forecast., 32, 1101–1119, https://doi.org/10.1175/WAF-D-16-0203.1, 2017. a
Bluestein, H. B.: A History of Severe-Storm-Intercept Field Programs, Weather Forecast., 14, 558–577, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0434(1999)014<0558:AHOSSI>2.0.CO;2, 1999. a
de Morsier, G., Fuhrer, O., and
Arpagaus, M.: Challenges for a new 1 km non-hydrostatic model over
the Alpine area, in: AMS 15th International Conference on Mountain Meteorology, available at: https://ams.confex.com/ams/15MountMet/webprogram/Paper210187.html (last access: 1 April 2020), 2012. a
Diffenbaugh, N. S., Scherer, M., and Trapp, R. J.: Robust increases in severe thunderstorm environments in response to greenhouse forcing, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 110, 16361–16366, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1307758110, 2013. a
Enno, S.-E., Sugier, J., Alber, R., and
Seltzer, M.: Lightning flash density in Europe based on 10 years of ATDnet data, Atmos. Res., 235, 104769, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2019.104769, 2020. a, b, c
Fabry, F.: Radar Meteorology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107707405, 2015. a
Feldmann, M., James, C. N., Boscacci, M., Leuenberger, D., Gabella, M., Germann, U., Wolfensberger, D., and Berne, A.: R2D2: A Region-Based Recursive Doppler Dealiasing Algorithm for Operational Weather Radar, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 37, 2341–2356, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-20-0054.1, 2020. a, b, c, d
Feldmann, M., Germann, U., Gabella, M., and
Berne, A.: Radar-based mesocyclone detections in Switzerland from
2016–2020, Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5122519, 2021. a
Figueras i Ventura, J., Pineda, N., Besic, N., Grazioli, J., Hering, A., van der Velde, O. A., Romero, D., Sunjerga, A., Mostajabi, A., Azadifar, M., Rubinstein, M., Montanyà, J., Germann, U., and Rachidi, F.: Analysis of the lightning production of convective cells, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5573–5591, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5573-2019, 2019. a
Foresti, L., Sideris, I. V., Panziera, L., Nerini, D., and Germann, U.: A 10 year radar-based analysis of orographic precipitation growth and decay patterns over the Swiss Alpine region, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 144, 2277–2301, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3364, 2018. a
Frew, E. W., Argrow, B., Borenstein, S., Swenson, S., Hirst, C. A., Havenga, H., and Houston, A.: Field observation of tornadic supercells by multiple autonomous fixed-wing unmanned aircraft, J. Field Robot., 37, 1077–1093, https://doi.org/10.1002/rob.21947, 2020. a
Garcia de Jesus, E. I.: Tornado scientists send drone fleet into violent thunderstorms, Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01486-y, in press, 2019. a
Germann, U., Boscacci, M., Gabella, M.,
and Schneebelie, M.: Weather radar in Switzerland, in: From weather
observations to atmospheric and climate sciences in Switzerland,
edited by: Willemse, S. and Furger, M., vdf, Zurich, https://doi.org/10.3218/3746-3, 2016. a, b
Grazioli, J., Leuenberger, A., Peyraud, L., Figueras, J., Gabella, M., Hering, A., and Germann, U.: Adaptive thunderstorm measurements using C-band and X-band radar data, IEEE Geosci. Remote S., 16, 1673–1677, https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2019.2909970, 2019. a, b
Hering, A. M., Morel, C., Galli, G., Ambrosetti, P., and Boscacci, M.: Nowcasting thunderstorms in the
Alpine Region using a radar based adaptive thresholding scheme, in:
Proc. ERAD Conference 2004, 206–211, available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paolo-Ambrosetti/publication/238716076_Nowcasting_thunderstorms
_in_the_Alpine_region_using_a_radar_based_adaptive_
thresholding_scheme/links/02e7e533991efe4d62000000/
Nowcasting-thunderstorms-in-the-Alpine-region-using-a-radar-
based-adaptive-thresholding-scheme.pdf (last access: 20 January 2020), 2004. a, b, c, d, e, f
Hoeppe, P.: Trends in weather related disasters – Consequences for insurers and society, Weather and Climate Extremes, 11, 70–79, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2015.10.002, 2015. a
Houze, R. A., Schmid, W., Fovell, R. G., and Schiesser, H.-H.: Hailstorms in Switzerland: Left Movers, Right Movers, and False Hooks, Mon. Weather Rev., 121, 3345–3370, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1993)121<3345:hislmr>2.0.co;2, 1993. a, b
Kron, W., Löw, P., and Kundzewicz, Z. W.: Changes in risk of extreme weather events in Europe, Environ. Sci. Policy, 100, 74–83, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.06.007, 2019. a
Kumjian, M. R. and Ryzhkov, A. V.: Polarimetric Signatures in Supercell Thunderstorms, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 47, 1940–1961, https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JAMC1874.1, 2008. a, b
Linder, W., Schmid, W., and Schiesser, H.-H.: Surface Winds and Development of Thunderstorms along Southwest–Northeast Oriented Mountain Chains, Weather Forecast., 14, 758–770, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0434(1999)014<0758:SWADOT>2.0.CO;2, 1999. a, b
Lucas, B. D. and Kanade, T.: An Iterative Image Registration Technique with an Application to Stereo Vision, in: vol. 2, Proceedings of 7th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI '81), 24–28 August 1981, Vancouver, British Columbia, 674–679, 1981. a
Markowski, P. and Richardson, Y.: Mesoscale Meteorology in Midlatitudes, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex, UK, https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470682104, 2010. a
Markowski, P. M.: Hook Echoes and Rear-Flank Downdrafts: A Review, Mon. Weather Rev., 130, 852–876, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(2002)130<0852:HEARFD>2.0.CO;2, 2002. a
MeteoSwiss: Stabilisierung nach nächtlichem Rekordgewitter, https://www.meteoschweiz.admin.ch/home/aktuell/meteoschweiz-blog/meteoschweiz-blog-suche.subpage.html/de/data/blogs/2017/8/stabiliserung-nach-naechtlichem-rekordgewitter-.html (last access: 8 October 2021), 2017. a
MeteoSwiss: Orage supercellulaire en Valais, https://www.meteosuisse.admin.ch/home/actualite/meteosuisse-blog/meteosuisse-blog-recherche.subpage.html/fr/data/blogs/2019/8/orage-supercellulaire-en-valais.html (last access: 8 October 2021), 2019. a
Miller, M. L., Lakshmanan, V., and Smith, T. M.: An Automated Method for Depicting Mesocyclone Paths and Intensities, Weather Forecast., 28, 570–585, https://doi.org/10.1175/WAF-D-12-00065.1, 2013. a, b
Mohr, S. and Kunz, M.: Recent trends and variabilities of convective parameters relevant for hail events in Germany and Europe, Atmos. Res., 123, 211–228, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2012.05.016, 2013. a
Mohr, S., Wandel, J., Lenggenhager, S., and Martius, O.: Relationship between atmospheric blocking and warm-season thunderstorms over western and central Europe, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 145, 3040–3056, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3603, 2019. a
Mohr, S., Wilhelm, J., Wandel, J., Kunz, M., Portmann, R., Punge, H. J., Schmidberger, M., Quinting, J. F., and Grams, C. M.: The role of large-scale dynamics in an exceptional sequence of severe thunderstorms in Europe May–June 2018, Weather Clim. Dynam., 1, 325–348, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-325-2020, 2020. a, b, c
Mulholland, J. P., Nesbitt, S. W., and Trapp, R. J.: A Case Study of Terrain Influences on Upscale Convective Growth of a Supercell, Mon. Weather Rev., 147, 4305–4324, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-19-0099.1, 2019. a
Mulholland, J. P., Nesbitt, S. W., Trapp, R. J., and Peters, J. M.: The Influence of Terrain on the Convective Environment and Associated Convective Morphology from an Idealized Modeling Perspective, J. Atmos. Sci., 77, 3929–3949, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-19-0190.1, 2020. a
Nesbitt, S. W., Salio, P. V., Ávila, E., Bitzer, P., Carey, L., Chandrasekar, V., Deierling, W., Dominguez, F., Dillon, M. E., Garcia, C. M., Gochis, D., Goodman, S., Hence, D. A., Kosiba, K. A., Kumjian, M. R., Lang, T., Luna, L. M., Marquis, J., Marshall, R., McMurdie, L. A., Nascimento, E. L., Rasmussen, K. L., Roberts, R., Rowe, A. K., Ruiz, J. J., São Sabbas, E. F., Saulo, A. C., Schumacher, R. S., Skabar, Y. G., Machado, L. A. T., Trapp, R. J., Varble, A., Wilson, J., Wurman, J., Zipser, E. J., Arias, I., Bechis, H., and Grover, M. A.: A storm safari in Subtropical South America: proyecto RELAMPAGO, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 102, E1621–E1644, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0029.1, 2021. a
Nisi, L., Hering, A., Germann, U., Schroeer, K., Barras, H., Kunz, M., and Martius, O.: Hailstorms in the Alpine region: Diurnal cycle, 4D-characteristics, and the nowcasting potential of lightning properties, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 146, 4170–4194, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3897, 2020. a
NSSL: VORTEX @ NSSL, https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/projects/vortex/ (last access: 17 May 2021), 2019. a
NSSL: VORTEX SOUTHEAST, https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/projects/vortexse/, last access: 23 September 2021. a
Peyraud, L.: Analysis of the 18 July 2005 Tornadic Supercell over the Lake Geneva Region, Weather Forecast., 28, 1524–1551, https://doi.org/10.1175/waf-d-13-00022.1, 2013. a, b, c
Piper, D. A., Kunz, M., Allen, J. T., and Mohr, S.: Investigation of the temporal variability of thunderstorms in central and western Europe and the relation to large-scale flow and teleconnection patterns, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 145, 3644–3666, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3647, 2019. a, b
Púčik, T., Groenemeijer, P., Rädler, A. T., Tijssen, L., Nikulin, G., Prein, A. F., van Meijgaard, E., Fealy, R., Jacob, D., and Teichmann, C.: Future Changes in European Severe Convection Environments in a Regional Climate Model Ensemble, J. Climate, 30, 6771–6794, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0777.1, 2017. a
Púčik, T., Castellano, C., Groenemeijer, P., Kühne, T., Rädler, A. T., Antonescu, B., and Faust, E.: Large Hail Incidence and Its Economic and Societal Impacts across Europe, Mon. Weather Rev., 147, 3901–3916, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-19-0204.1, 2019. a
Pulkkinen, S., Nerini, D., Pérez Hortal, A. A., Velasco-Forero, C., Seed, A., Germann, U., and Foresti, L.: Pysteps: an open-source Python library for probabilistic precipitation nowcasting (v1.0), Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 4185–4219, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4185-2019, 2019. a, b, c
Rädler, A. T., Groenemeijer, P. H., Faust, E., Sausen, R., and Púčik, T.: Frequency of severe thunderstorms across Europe expected to increase in the 21st century due to rising instability, npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 2, 3–7, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-019-0083-7, 2019. a
Rampanelli, G., Zardi, D., and Rotunno, R.: Mechanisms of Up-Valley Winds, J. Atmos. Sci., 61, 3097–3111, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-3354.1, 2004. a
Schemm, S., Nisi, L., Martinov, A., Leuenberger, D., and Martius, O.: On the link between cold fronts and hail in Switzerland, Atmos. Sci. Lett., 17, 315–325, https://doi.org/10.1002/asl.660, 2016. a, b, c
Serafin, S., Rotach, M. W., Arpagaus, M., Colfescu, I., Cuxart, J., De Wekker, S. F. J., Evans, M., Grubišić, V., Kalthoff, N., Karl, T., Kirshbaum, D. J., Lehner, M., Mobbs, S., Paci, A., Palazzi, E., Raudzens Bailey, A., Schmidli, J., Wohlfahrt, G., and Zardi, D.: Multi-scale transport and exchange processes in the atmosphere over mountains, 1st Edn., Innsbruck University Press, Innsbruck, https://doi.org/10.15203/99106-003-1, 2020.
a
Stumpf, G. J., Witt, A., Mitchell, E. D., Spencer, P. L., Johnson, J. T., Eilts, M. D., Thomas, K. W., and Burgess, D. W.: The National Severe Storms Laboratory Mesocyclone Detection Algorithm for the WSR-88D, Weather Forecast., 13, 304–326, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0434(1998)013<0304:TNSSLM>2.0.CO;2, 1998. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i
Sturmarchiv Schweiz: Sturmarchiv Schweiz – Tornados, https://www.sturmarchiv.ch/index.php?title=Tornados (last access: 15 May 2021), 2021. a
Taszarek, M., Allen, J., Púčik, T., Groenemeijer, P., Czernecki, B., Kolendowicz, L., Lagouvardos, K., Kotroni, V., and Schulz, W.: A Climatology of Thunderstorms across Europe from a Synthesis of Multiple Data Sources, J. Climate, 32, 1813–1837, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0372.1, 2019. a
Trefalt, S., Martynov, A., Barras, H., Besic, N., Hering, A. M., Lenggenhager, S., Noti, P., Röthlisberger, M., Schemm, S., Germann, U., and Martius, O.: A severe hail storm in complex topography in Switzerland – Observations and processes, Atmos. Res., 209, 76–94, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2018.03.007, 2018. a, b
van der Walt, S., Schönberger, J. L., Nunez-Iglesias, J., Boulogne, F., Warner, J. D., Yager, N., Gouillart, E., Yu, T., and the scikit-image contributors: scikit-image: image processing in Python, PeerJ, 2, e453, https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.453, 2014. a, b
Varble, A. C., Nesbitt, S. W., Salio, P., Hardin, J. C., Bharadwaj, N., Borque, P., DeMott, P. J., Feng, Z., Hill, T. C. J., Marquis, J. N., Matthews, A., Mei, F., Öktem, R., Castro, V., Goldberger, L., Hunzinger, A., Barry, K. R., Kreidenweis, S. M., McFarquhar, G. M., McMurdie, L. A., Pekour, M., Powers, H., Romps, D. M., Saulo, C., Schmid, B., Tomlinson, J. M., van den Heever, S. C., Zelenyuk, A., Zhang, Z., and Zipser, E. J.: Utilizing a Storm-Generating Hotspot to Study Convective Cloud Transitions: The CACTI Experiment, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 102, E1597–E1620, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0030.1, 2021. a
Wapler, K.: The life-cycle of hailstorms: Lightning, radar reflectivity and rotation characteristics, Atmos. Res., 193, 60–72, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2017.04.009, 2017. a
Wapler, K.: Mesocyclonic and non-mesocyclonic convective storms in Germany: Storm characteristics and life-cycle, Atmos. Res., 248, 105186, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2020.105186, 2021. a
Wapler, K. and James, P.: Thunderstorm occurrence and characteristics in Central Europe under different synoptic conditions, Atmos. Res., 158–159, 231–244, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2014.07.011, 2014. a, b
Wapler, K., Hengstebeck, T., and Groenemeijer, P.: Mesocyclones in Central Europe as seen by radar, Atmos. Res., 168, 112–120, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2015.08.023, 2016. a, b, c, d
Witt, A., Burgess, D. W., Seimon, A., Allen, J. T., Snyder, J. C., and Bluestein, H. B.: Rapid-Scan Radar Observations of an Oklahoma Tornadic Hailstorm Producing Giant Hail, Weather Forecast., 33, 1263–1282, https://doi.org/10.1175/WAF-D-18-0003.1, 2018.
a
Zrnić, D. S., Burgess, D. W., and Hennington, L. D.: Automatic Detection of Mesocyclonic Shear with Doppler Radar, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 2, 425–438, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(1985)002<0425:adomsw>2.0.co;2, 1985. a, b
Short summary
Mesocyclones are the rotating updraught of supercell thunderstorms that present a particularly hazardous subset of thunderstorms. A first-time characterisation of the spatiotemporal occurrence of mesocyclones in the Alpine region is presented, using 5 years of Swiss operational radar data. We investigate parallels to hailstorms, particularly the influence of large-scale flow, daily cycles and terrain. Improving understanding of mesocyclones is valuable for risk assessment and warning purposes.
Mesocyclones are the rotating updraught of supercell thunderstorms that present a particularly...
