CloudSat Adding New Insight into Tropical Penetrating Convection
نویسندگان
چکیده
Collocated observations of cloud-top height and cloud-profiling information from 14 CloudSat and MODIS cloud-top temperature are analyzed to determine where convective 15 cloud top occurs in relation to the cold point tropopause and the internal vertical structure 16 of these deep convective clouds. Three types of penetrating convection identified as cold17 low (CL), cold-high (CH), and warm-high (WH) are defined according to the cloud-top 18 temperature and height in comparison to the tropopause height and temperature: It is 19 suggested that CL, CH and WH types correspond to, respectively, the incipient, mature 20 and dissipating stage of the convective lifecycle. Multiple lines of evidence, including 21 CloudSat radar profiles tested against the undiluted ascent hypothesis and examination of 22 convective system size, all lend support to this interpretation. 23
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