Relative Impact of Surface and Aerosol Heterogeneities on Deep Convection

The evolution of deep moist convection and subsequent precipitation is strongly linked to the heterogeneity of the underlying surface (terrain structure and soil moisture) as well as the presence of cloud condensation nuclei. All three factors show a high complexity within themselves, but their interaction, including dynamic and thermodynamic processes, makes it even more difficult to properly represent precipitation in numerical weather models due to insufficient understanding and description of physical processes. Within this work, the effects of terrain structure, soil moisture and aerosols are investigated by performing a high-resolution numerical sensitivity study for real-case situations over Germany, with a special focus on different synoptic weather regimes.