Composite sharpening by vortex symmetrization and normalization of tropical cyclones

Caratsch, Andrina; Ferrachat, Sylvaine; Lohmann, Ulrike

doi:10.5194/gmd-19-5041-2026

Articles | Volume 19, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-5041-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-5041-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 11

Methods for assessment of models

|

15 Jun 2026

Methods for assessment of models |

| 15 Jun 2026

Composite sharpening by vortex symmetrization and normalization of tropical cyclones

Andrina Caratsch, Sylvaine Ferrachat, and Ulrike Lohmann

Download

Final revised paper (published on 15 Jun 2026)
Preprint (discussion started on 02 Feb 2026)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

CEC1:
'Comment on egusphere-2025-6186', Astrid Kerkweg, 11 Mar 2026

Dear authors,
as GMD requires the permanent archiving of the model code versions used in the publication, please do not only cite the webpage icon-model.org but also cite the DOI which is assigned to the official ICON releases.
ICON partnership (DWD; MPI-M; DKRZ; KIT; C2SM) (2024). ICON release 2024.10. World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) at DKRZ. https://doi.org/10.35089/WDCC/IconRelease2024.10
Greetings, Astrid Kerkweg (GMD Executive Editor)

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6186-CEC1
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Andrina Caratsch, 05 May 2026
  
  We thank the reviewers for their comments and have revised the manuscript accordingly; a detailed response is provided in the attachment.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6186-AC1
RC1:
'Comment on egusphere-2025-6186', Anonymous Referee #1, 23 Mar 2026

Please find my comments in the attached files, with apologies for the late review.
In this paper, the authors introduce a new methodology meant to improve the compositing approaches often used in the study of cyclones' structure. Their suggestion is to normalize the cyclones according to their size before averaging their structure. Their method appears as a relevant improvement of the usual centered-only approach, especially in the era of km-scale modelling when models are expected to better resolve cyclones' structures (which, surprisingly, is not mentionned as a motivation?). Their approach is rigorous and the improvement they bring is clearly demonstrated. The subject of the paper is also very well suited for the journal, so I think the study deserves to be published in GMD. However, the manuscript needs important revisions, as detailed below.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6186-RC1
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Andrina Caratsch, 05 May 2026
  
  We thank the reviewers for their comments and have revised the manuscript accordingly; a detailed response is provided in the attachment.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6186-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on egusphere-2025-6186', Anonymous Referee #2, 01 Apr 2026

Apologies for the lengthy time to complete my review. Please see the attached document.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6186-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Andrina Caratsch, 05 May 2026
  
  Publisher’s note: the content of this comment was removed on 7 May 2026 since the comment was posted by mistake.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6186-AC2
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Andrina Caratsch, 05 May 2026
  
  We thank the reviewers for their comments and have revised the manuscript accordingly; a detailed response is provided in the attachment.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6186-AC1
RC3:
'Comment on egusphere-2025-6186', Anonymous Referee #3, 10 Apr 2026

The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2025-6186/egusphere-2025-6186-RC3-supplement.pdf

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6186-RC3
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Andrina Caratsch, 05 May 2026
  
  We thank the reviewers for their comments and have revised the manuscript accordingly; a detailed response is provided in the attachment.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6186-AC1
EC1:
'Editor comment on egusphere-2025-6186', Wojciech W. Grabowski, 20 May 2026

Dear Authors. before I accept the paper I have the following technical request. Throughout the text, you use the word "resolution" many times. But in some places, it really means "horizontal grid length". For instance, lines 7, 44, 45, etc. It is correct when "resolution" is used in a general sense, like for instance in line 20 and in several other places. However, when you specifically mean grid length (like in line 7: "...5 km horizontal resolutions."), the word "resolution" needs to be replaced by "horizontal grid length". Please do the search for the word "resolution" and replace it with the phrase "horizontal grid length" in all places where a specific number is given (like line 7 in the abstract. Thank you very much for your cooperation. WG.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6186-EC1
- AC3: 'Reply on EC1', Andrina Caratsch, 21 May 2026
  
  Dear Mr. Grabowski,
  Thank you for pointing this out. We have revised the wording in the manuscript accordingly.
  Best regards,
  
  Andrina Caratsch
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6186-AC3

Peer review completion

AR – Author's response | RR – Referee report | ED – Editor decision | EF – Editorial file upload

AR by Andrina Caratsch on behalf of the Authors (07 May 2026) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (26 May 2026) by Wojciech W. Grabowski

AR by Andrina Caratsch on behalf of the Authors (26 May 2026) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (27 May 2026) by Wojciech W. Grabowski

AR by Andrina Caratsch on behalf of the Authors (27 May 2026)

Post-review adjustments

AA – Author's adjustment | EA – Editor approval

AA by Andrina Caratsch on behalf of the Authors (10 Jun 2026) Author's adjustment Manuscript

EA: Adjustments approved (11 Jun 2026) by Wojciech W. Grabowski

Short summary

Tropical cyclones come in various size and shape, which smoothes out key storm features in composite analyses. To address this, we developed a compositing method that symmetrizes storms and better aligns their eyewalls and horizontal extents prior to compositing. This approach preserves mesoscale features in the composites, reduces within-group variance, and enhances the power of statistical testing. The method facilitates the investigation and understanding of tropical cyclone development.