Regional Variability in Microphysical Characteristics of Precipitation Features with Lightning across China: Observations from GPM
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This study investigate the microphysical characteristics of precipitation features with and without lightning over China using observations from GPM. It is an interesting topic and may provide some understanding of the formation of natural hazard related to heavy rainfall or lightning. However, some problems should be addressed before the manuscript can be considered for publication.
1. In section 2, it is necessary to tell the readers more information about the accuracy or errors of the products (e.g., DSD retrieval products) used in this study.
2. LPFs and NLPFS contain both convective rain and stratiform rain. I think it is necessary to separately compare the convection with lightning and without lightning.
3. Significance test is needed, especially when you compare the mean values among different regions.
4. Line 242-244: Could you give more explanation for this statement? Why does the melting of ice hydrometeors produce large raindrops?
5. Some case studies also show the frequency pattern in Dm-Nw space (as in Fig. 2) for different precipitation system over different regions over China using the ground-based radar. Could you compare their results with this study?
6. Could you show the evidence for stronger updraft within the LPFs? The dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of the LPFs and NLPFs should also be discussed.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The cloud microphysics has been widely studied by the ground-based radar observations in different regions in the world. And this study considers the latitudinal distribution of cloud microphysical parameters with and without lightning strokes. The resulting spatial distribution of the parameters provides extended picture of the processes in the thundercloud. The results are relevant to previous studies and also show some new features, that will be very interesting to readers, especially researchers of lightning physics.
The text style is clear. All the charts are clear and usefull.
Lines 87-89: may be removed.
The first sentence in 3.1, line 170, may be removed: "The statistical analysis of the...are presented."
Not the note, just question: does the "mean" value sufficiently represent the statistical distribution of parameters? Are the distributions normal? If not, maybe it will be usefull to include one more stat. value...
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
This study uses GPM Dual frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR)'s products from a study period of 2014-2021 to study rain microphysics across China. This is a valuable study with a focus on lightning within clouds, and features satellite remote sensing as a reliable way to study microphysical characteristics of precipitating clouds. One aspect I would like the authors to highlight are possible ways in which present literature is on validation of the GPM DSD and microphysical properties The study design is overall good, and the findings are significant, hence I would recommend this article for publication once the authors address the minor revision recommended. Moreover, I request the authors to thoroughly check for spelling errors, typos and grammatical mistakes. I found a typo on the Funding section where the funding agency is not mentioned in an unfinished sentence (see line 509).
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
The paper is well organized and it is a thorough overview of the microphysical variations of the precipitation during lightning conditions. The results are based on real measurement data.
According to my best knowledge, this topics was studied an published, like:
Chandrani Chatterjee, Saurabh Das, On the association between lightning and precipitation microphysics, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Volume 207, 2020
or
Charn, A. B. (2020). Impacts of Cloud Microphysics on Extreme Precipitation and Lightning. UC Berkeley
Therefore, I recommend that the authors address the differences between their own results and research carried out by others in the conclusion of the paper.
Some minor comments:
-row 110: change '...at a wavelength of 85 110 GHz' to '...at a frequency of 85 110 GHz'
-Figure 2,4,7: alignment should be corrected
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Thanks for the response. I still think it is necessary to add some discussion about the convection with lightning and without lightning. Huang et al. (2022) only analyzed the relationship between convective cores and lighting over the Pearl River Delta Region, and they used polarimetric radar data. It is of interest to know the microphysical characteristics of convection with lightning and without lightning over different regions in China using observations from GPM, and whether there are any differences from the previous studies.
Author Response
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