Diurnal Variation Characteristics of Clouds and Precipitation during the Summer Season in Two Typical Climate Regions of the Tibetan Plateau

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Review report of “Diurnal Variation Characteristics of Clouds and Precipitation during the Summer Season in Two Typical Climate Regions of the Tibetan Plateau”

Here the authors explore the diurnal variations of clouds and precipitation using ground-based measurements from Ka-band cloud radar and Particle Size and Velocity (PARSIVEL) disdrometer in two typical climate regions of the Tibetan Plateau. The data was obtained form ground-based measurements from Ka-band cloud radar and Particle Size and Velocity (PARSIVEL) disdrometer. Authors found the following results:

1.      the two regions exhibited different levels of frequencies for cloud cover and precipitation at different times of the day.

2.      The timing of heavy rainfall (i.e., mean rain rate) is relatively different for the two regions. the Mêdog appears to occur in the evening and mid-night whereas the Nagqu, occurs in the afternoon to evening.

3.      Similar results are reported the two regions but for rainfall intensity >10 mm-h.

4.      The factors such as nocturnal convergence of moisture flux and mountain-valley wind circulation (strong solar radiation) best explains the mechanisms of diurnal variations in the two regions.

Opinion: The manuscript fits the aims and scope of the journal. I think the journal readership would find it interesting and information in this manuscript if accepted would contribute to our understanding of Asian monsoon region and global climate change. The paper sets up the context well and spends quite a bit of time on diurnal variation of cloud and precipitation and influencing mechanism etc in Tibetan Plateau. Also setting up previous literature on ground-based instruments, compared them together (along with their advantages/disadvantages) against other data collection methods. The methods are well organized and established, however, without this knowledge on the other methods, it makes it hard to scientifically justify the proposed process. The language used is appropriate and professional, and the paper is coherent in its flow of ideas.

 However, I have noticed strengths and weaknesses that I would like to draw the attention of the authors. I believe my suggestion would help improve the general readability and quality of the work. Kindly find attached detail comments and suggestions.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The cloud characteristics and features of precipitation in two regions of the Tibetan Plateau are analyzed with the use of data from Ka-band cloud radars and Parsivel disdrometers. Summer season is considered. A comparison of time changes (in particular, diurnal variability) of the studied parameters and the height distribution of cloudiness was carried out for the sites in the valley (Mêdog) and at a higher altitude (Nagqu). Wind variations are also studied with the revealed interesting distinctions shown in Fig. 13.

The presented text corresponds with the requirements for scientific papers. At the same time, there are technical notes and several more significant points. All the remarks are included in the attached file. In particular, the main attention should be paid to the comments on L. 157-158, 198, 230-231, 242, 290-291, 319, 565. Nonetheless, the questions seem non-critical, and I recommend minor revision. Overall, the provided analysis is thorough and contains important information about meteorological conditions in the Tibetan Plateau.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

The text is clearly structured and written in comprehensible language. There are some grammatical errors that should be corrected. Among them, the use of singular and plural forms, a few cases of misspelling and stylistic mistakes. All these errors can be eliminated relatively quickly, they do not harm the content of the paper.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Review of Manuscript: No. remotesensing-2475430

This study focuses on the diurnal changes and properties about cloud and precipitation parameters on Medog and Nagqu regions of Tibetan Plateau during summer. As a climate sensitive area, the study here has extensive research significance. The comments are shown following.

- I recommend to reorganize the section of Abstract: reduce the use of parentheses and highlight the conclusion to increase readability. In addition, it is also meaningful to add some descriptions of quantitative parameters for observational reports.

- Authors need to emphasize the significance of the study. It seems that a large number of studies on the same site and topic have been reported, from the Introduction section.

- The last part of Introduction section is not necessary.

- It is good to use various dataset and instruments in the study. It will be better to add more descriptions of uncertainty of the dataset or measurements. This is also important in most data-based scientific studies.

- Line 248-249: Is the sampling uniform or completely random enough?

- Line 265-266: From my perspective, there are three peaks and the third peak is at 2:00 AM, as shown in Figure 2(b).

- Can we consider that the diurnal changes of cloud cover in Medog depend mainly on the precipitating clouds, whereas in Nagqu it is opposite?

- Line 304-306: Do this underestimating only impact on precipitating clouds, or both precipitating clouds and non-precipitating clouds?

- Line 319: Is it meaningful to use such words like ‘a bimodal structure’ to describe diurnal changes of cloud parameters? The presence of multiple peaks is OK, but I don’t think it seem to be a special structure.

- If it is possible to retrieve/estimate optical depth information of clouds from the radar? This will be useful to analyze the structure of cloud.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Authors revised manuscript following my comments. I dont have any further comments.