Open AccessCharacteristics of Strong Updrafts in Precipitation Systems over the Central Tropical Pacific Ocean and in the Amazon
Author(s) -
Nicholas F. Anderson,
C. A. Grainger,
Jeffrey L. Stith
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of applied meteorology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1520-0450
pISSN - 0894-8763
DOI - 10.1175/jam2231.1
Subject(s) - tropical cyclone , climatology , precipitation , environmental science , tropics , tropical atlantic , amazon rainforest , atmospheric sciences , sea surface temperature , convection , geography , geology , meteorology , ecology , biology
Airborne in situ measurements of updrafts in tropical convective storms were analyzed to determine the similarities and differences between updrafts in a tropical continental and a tropical oceanic region. Two hundred fifteen updraft cores from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) component of the Large Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere (LBA) experiment (tropical continental wet season) and 377 updraft cores from the Kwajalein Experiment (KWAJEX) (tropical oceanic) were analyzed in a similar manner to that of previous studies of tropical updrafts. Average speed, maximum speed, width, and mass flux of the updraft cores from the TRMM-LBA and KWAJEX were generally similar to each other and also were similar to results from previous studies of tropical updrafts.