Influence of surface morphology on erosion of plasma-facing components in H-mode plasmas of ASDEX Upgrade

•Net erosion of plasma-facing materials investigated at the outer strike-point region of the ASDEX Upgrade divertor during H-mode discharges with small and frequent ELMs.•Increasing surface roughness reduces net erosion but less than what is the case in l-mode.•Net-erosion rates are generally 2–5 times higher in H-mode than in l-mode.•Exposure in H-mode conditions results in strong local variations in the poloidal and toroidal erosion/deposition profiles.•Both erosion and deposition require detailed analyses at the microscopic scale and the deposition patterns may be drastically different for heavy and light impurities.•Local plasma parameters have a huge impact on PFC erosion rates and surface morphology and its temporal evolution have to be taken into account for quantitative estimates of erosion rates and PFC lifetime under reactor-relevant conditions.