Vertical Velocity in Oceanic Convection off Tropical Australia

Lucas, Christopher G.; Zipser, Edward J.; LeMone, Margaret A.

doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1994)051<3183:vvioco>2.0.co;2

Cited by 272 publications

(267 citation statements)

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“…Jorgensen et al (1985) found that the accumulated PDFs of vertical velocity in intense hurricanes were also distributed lognormally and the strength was similar to that in GATE, but the diameter of the convective region was larger. Studies of convective clouds over Taiwan (Jorgensen and LeMone, 1989) and Australia (Lucas et al, 1994) showed a magnitude of vertical velocity similar to that in GATE. Although the results from the Thunderstorm Project are suspect, the significantly stronger drafts reveal the possible difference between continental and tropical maritime convective clouds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Characteristics of vertical air motion in isolated convective clouds

et al. 2016

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Abstract. The vertical velocity and air mass flux in isolated convective clouds are statistically analyzed using aircraft in situ data collected from three field campaigns: High-Plains Cumulus (HiCu) conducted over the midlatitude High Plains, COnvective Precipitation Experiment (COPE) conducted in a midlatitude coastal area, and Ice in Clouds Experiment-Tropical (ICE-T) conducted over a tropical ocean. The results show that small-scale updrafts and downdrafts ( < 500 m in diameter) are frequently observed in the three field campaigns, and they make important contributions to the total air mass flux. The probability density functions (PDFs) and profiles of the observed vertical velocity are provided. The PDFs are exponentially distributed. The updrafts generally strengthen with height. Relatively strong updrafts (> 20 m s −1 ) were sampled in COPE and ICE-T. The observed downdrafts are stronger in HiCu and COPE than in ICE-T. The PDFs of the air mass flux are exponentially distributed as well. The observed maximum air mass flux in updrafts is of the order 10 4 kg m −1 s −1 . The observed air mass flux in the downdrafts is typically a few times smaller in magnitude than that in the updrafts. Since this study only deals with isolated convective clouds, and there are many limitations and sampling issues in aircraft in situ measurements, more observations are needed to better explore the vertical air motion in convective clouds.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Characteristics of vertical air motion in isolated convective clouds

et al. 2016

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“…Despite the difference in updraft strength, there are more frequent penetrations to higher (colder) levels over ocean than over land, which is consistent with differences in the vertical profiles of static stability over ocean and land [cf. Lucas et al, 1994].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

22‐Year survey of tropical convection penetrating into the lower stratosphere

Rossow¹,

Pearl²

2007

Geophysical Research Letters

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[1] A 22-year survey of tropical convection penetrating into the stratosphere has been conducted using special subsets of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project cloud data set. In addition to refined information about the geographic distribution of penetrating convective systems, these results show that penetrating convection occurs predominantly in the larger, organized, mesoscale convective systems, whereas smaller, unorganized convective systems rarely penetrate. Durations of penetrating events are longest for the largest systems, hurricanes and typhoons, generally exceeding one day.

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“…In most tropical ocean regimes, copious rainfall is produced by collision-coalescence low in the cloud, depleting cloud water content before the relatively weak updrafts even reach the mixed-phase region. In contrast, most continental storms not only have stronger updrafts [Zipser and Lutz, 1994;Lucas et al, 1994;Zipser, 2003] but Figure 4. Probability of lightning occurrence within precipitation systems as a function of maximum radar reflectivity near different temperature levels (−5°C, −10°C, −15°C, and 20°C) for land storms during pre-Meiyu (black cross), Mei-Yu (green star), and Break (blue triangle), and Oceanic systems during all periods (red square).…”

Section: Correlations Between Lightning and Thundercloud Parametersmentioning

confidence: 98%

On the relationships between lightning frequency and thundercloud parameters of regional precipitation systems

Zipser

Liu

et al. 2010

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] Seasonal variations on lightning activity of precipitation systems over south China and Taiwan before and after the onset of Mei-Yu have been observed by the lightning imager sensor (LIS) on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Lightning storms before Mei-Yu onset show higher probability of lightning, higher flash rate, and larger radar reflectivity in the mixed-phase region than the Mei-Yu regime. However, the probability of lightning occurrence with the same threshold of maximum radar reflectivity or ice scattering signature is similar for land systems before and during Mei-Yu season. Oceanic systems show slightly lower probability of lightning even with the same thresholds. Relationships between a set of TRMM-observed parameters and LIS lightning frequency are further examined. For lightning systems over land, the total area of radar echo above 35 dBZ has a closer relationship with lightning flash rate at the temperature between −5°C and −15°C than other parameters. Area of lower radar reflectivity at colder temperature, e.g., area of 20 dBZ at −40°C, is also highly correlated with lightning frequency. The highest correlation between area of specific radar reflectivity and lightning frequency is found at lower temperatures when the oceanic lightning systems are examined.

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Vertical Velocity in Oceanic Convection off Tropical Australia

Cited by 272 publications

References 0 publications

Characteristics of vertical air motion in isolated convective clouds

Characteristics of vertical air motion in isolated convective clouds

22‐Year survey of tropical convection penetrating into the lower stratosphere

On the relationships between lightning frequency and thundercloud parameters of regional precipitation systems

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