Global Variability of Mesoscale Convective System Anvil Structure from A-Train Satellite Data

Abstract Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) in the tropics produce extensive anvil clouds, which significantly affect the transfer of radiation. This study develops an objective method to identify MCSs and their anvils by combining data from three A-train satellite instruments: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for cloud-top size and coldness, Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) for rain area size and intensity, and CloudSat for horizontal and vertical dimensions of anvils. The authors distinguish three types of MCSs: small and large separated MCSs and connected MCSs. The latter are MCSs sharing a contiguous rain area. Mapping of the objectively identified MCSs shows patterns of MCSs that are consistent with previous studies of tropical convection, with separated MCSs dominant over Africa and the Amazon regions and connected MCSs favored over the warm pool of the Indian and west Pacific Oceans. By separating the anvil from the raining regions of ...

• Publication year

  2010

• Venue

  Journal of Climate

• Publication date

  2010-11-01

• Fields of study

  Geology, Physics, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1175/2010JCLI3671.1
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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