Interactive comment on “An overview of the lightning and atmospheric electricity observations collected in Southern France during the HYdrological cycle in Mediterranean EXperiment

35 36 The PEACH project (Projet en Electricité Atmosphérique pour la Campagne HyMeX -the Atmospheric 37 Electricity Project of HyMeX Program) is the Atmospheric Electricity component of the HyMeX (Hydrology 38 cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment) experiment and is dedicated to the observation of both lightning 39 activity and electrical state of continental and maritime thunderstorms in the area of the Mediterranean 40 Sea. During the HyMeX SOP1 (Special Observation Period) from 5 September to 6 November 2012, four 41 European Operational Lightning Locating Systems (OLLSs) (ATDnet, EUCLID, LINET, ZEUS) and the 42 HyMeX Lightning Mapping Array network (HyLMA) were used to locate and characterize the lightning 43 activity over the Southeastern Mediterranean at flash, storm and regional scales. Additional research 44 instruments like slow antennas, video cameras, micro-barometer and microphone arrays were also 45 operated. All these observations in conjunction with operational/research ground-based and airborne 46 radars, rain gauges and in situ microphysical records are aimed at characterizing and understanding 47 electrically active and highly precipitating events over Southeastern France that often lead to severe flash 48 floods. Simulations performed with Cloud Resolving Models like Meso-NH and WRF are used to interpret 49 the results and to investigate further the links between dynamics, microphysics, electrification and 50 lightning occurrence. Herein we present an overview of the PEACH project and its different instruments. 51 Examples are discussed to illustrate the comprehensive and unique lightning dataset, from radio52 frequency to acoustics, collected during the SOP1 for lightning phenomenology understanding, 53 instrumentation validation, storm characterization and modeling. 54 55