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The paper describes the 2-moment microphysical scheme LIMA (Liquid Ice Multiple Aerosols), which relies on the prognostic evolution of a three-dimensional (3-D) aerosol population, and the careful description of the nucleating properties that enable cloud droplets and pristine ice crystals to form. LIMA uses the aerosol nucleating properties to form cloud droplets and pristine ice crystals. Several modes of Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) and Ice Freezing Nuclei (IFN) are considered individually. A special class of partially soluble IFN is also introduced. These "aged" IFN act first as CCN and then as IFN by immersion nucleation at low temperatures. All the CCN modes are in competition with each other, as expressed by the single equation of maximum supersaturation. The IFN are insoluble aerosols that nucleate ice in several ways (condensation, deposition and immersion freezing) assuming the singular hypothesis. The scheme also includes the homogeneous freezing of cloud droplets, the Hallett-Mossop ice multiplication process and the freezing of haze at very low temperature. LIMA assumes that water vapour is in thermodynamic equilibrium with the population of cloud droplets (adjustment to saturation in warm clouds). In ice clouds, the prediction of the number concentration of the pristine ice crystals is used to compute explicit deposition and sublimation rates (leading to free under/supersaturation over ice). The formation of hydrometeors is standard. The autoconversion, accretion and self-collection processes shape the raindrop spectra. The initiation of the large crystals and aggregates category is the result of the depositional growth of large crystals beyond a critical size. Aggregation and riming are computed explicitly. Heavily rimed crystals (graupel) can experience a dry or wet growth mode. An advanced version of the scheme includes a separate hail category of particles forming and growing exclusively in the wet growth mode. The sedimentation of all particle types is included. The LIMA scheme is inserted in the cloud-resolving mesoscale model Meso-NH. The flexibility of LIMA is illustrated by two 2-D experiments. The first one highlights the sensitivity of orographic ice clouds to IFN types and IFN concentrations. Then a squall line case discusses the microstructure of a mixed-phase cloud and the impacts of pure CCN and IFN polluting plumes. The experiments show that LIMA captures the complex nature of aerosol-cloud interactions leading to different pathways for cloud and precipitation formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The PEACH (Projet en Electricité Atmosphérique pour la Campagne HyMeX - the Atmospheric Electricity Project of HyMeX Program) project is the Atmospheric Electricity component of the HyMeX (Hydrology cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment) experiment and is dedicated to the observation of both lightning activity and electrical state of continental and maritime thunderstorms in the area of the Mediterranean Sea. During the HyMeX SOP1 (Special Observation Period; 5 September-6 November 2012), four European Operational Lightning Locating Systems (OLLSs) (ATDNET, EUCLID, LINET, ZEUS) and the HyMeX Lightning Mapping Array network (HyLMA) were used to locate and characterize the lightning activity over the Southeastern Mediterranean at flash, storm and regional scales. Additional research instruments like slow antennas, video cameras, micro-barometer and microphone arrays were also operated. All these observations in conjunction with operational/research ground-based and airborne radars, rain gauges and in situ microphysical records aimed at characterizing and understanding electrically active and highly precipitating events over Southeastern France that often lead to severe flash floods. Simulations performed with Cloud Resolving Models like Meso-NH and WRF are used to interpret the results and to investigate further the links between dynamics, microphysics, electrification and lightning occurrence. A description of the different instruments deployed during the field campaign as well as the available datasets is given first. Examples of concurrent observations from radio frequency to acoustic for regular and atypical lightning flashes are then presented showing a rather comprehensive description of lightning flashes available from the SOP1 records. Then examples of storms recorded during HyMeX SOP1 over Southeastern France are briefly described to highlight the unique and rich dataset collected. Finally the next steps of the work required for the delivery of reliable lightning-derived products to the HyMeX community are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microwave passive and active radiative transfer simulations are performed with the Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS) for a mid-latitude snowfall event, using outputs from the Meso-NH mesoscale cloud model. The results are compared to the corresponding microwave observations available from MHS and CloudSat. The spatial structures of the simulated and observed brightness temperatures show an overall agreement since the large-scale dynamical structure of the cloud system is reasonably well captured by Meso-NH. However, with the initial assumptions on the single scattering properties of snow, there is an obvious underestimation of the strong scattering observed in regions with large frozen hydrometeor quantities. A sensitivity analysis of both active and passive simulations to the microphysical parameterizations is conducted. Simultaneous analysis of passive and active calculations provides strong constraints on the assumptions made to simulate the observations. Good agreements are obtained with both MHS and CloudSat observations when the single scattering properties are calculated using the "soft sphere" parameterization from Liu (2004), along with the Meso-NH outputs. This is an important step toward building a robust dataset of simulated measurements to train a statistically-based retrieval scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the updated and parallelized version of the electrical scheme, Cloud ELectrification and Lightning Scheme (CELLS). It mentions its suitability for simulating electrified storm systems on parallel computers and calculation of a bulk electric charge which is attached to each cloud particle. It also notes the need for large computational domains for performing real case meteorological models with many independent convective cells.

A lightning NOx (LiNOx) source has been implemented in the deep convection scheme of the Meso-NH mesoscale model following a mass-flux formalism coherent with the transport and scavenging of gases inside the convective scheme. In this approach the vertical transport of NO inside clouds is calculated by the parameterization of deep convective transport, thus eliminating the need for apriori LiNOx profiles. Once produced inside the convective column, NO molecules are redistributed by updrafts and downdrafts and detrained in the environment when the conditions are favorable. The model was applied to three particular flights during the Tropical Convection, Cirrus and Nitrogen Oxides (TROCCINOX) campaign over the tropical area around Bauru on 3-4 March 2004. The convective activity during the three flights was investigated using brightness temperature at 10.7µm observed from GOES-12 satellite. The use of a model-to-satellite approach reveals that the simulation appears rather realistic compared to the observations. The diurnal cycle of the simulated brightness temperature, CAPE, number of IC flashes, NO entrainment flux are in phase, with a succession of three marked peaks at 18:00 UTC (15:00 LT). These simulated peaks precede the observed afternoon one by about three hours. Comparison of the simulated NOx with observations along the flight tracks show that the model reproduces well the observed NOx levels when the LiNOx source is applied. The budget of entrainment, detrainment and LiNOx convective fluxes shows that the majority of the NO detrained back to the environment comes from lightning source inside the convective columns. Entrainment of NO from the environment and vertical transport from the boundary layer were not significant during the episode. The troposphere is impacted by detrainment fluxes of LiNOx from 4 km altitude to 16 km with maximum values around 14 km altitude. Detrainment fluxes vary between 75 kg(N)/s during nighttime to 400 kg(N)/s at the times of maximun convective activity. Extrapolation of the regional LiNOx source would yield a global LiNOx production around 5.7 Tg(N)/year which is within the current estimates but should not hide the overestimation of the number of flash rates by the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]