Microphysical data from the Particle Measuring Systems, Inc. 2004) examines the microphysical characteristics of these updrafts.Ī description of the instrumentation and calibration techniques for the Citation during TRMM-LBA and KWAJEX is given by Stith et al. This study focuses on the data collected in both projects from the University of North Dakota’s Cessna Citation II aircraft ( Stith et al. Both projects had in situ measurements of cloud microphysics from research aircraft. The location of KWAJEX was in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a tropical oceanic site centered on the Kwajalein Atoll. The second project was the Kwajalein Experiment (KWAJEX), which was held in August and September. TRMM-LBA was located in Amazonia, a tropical continental site that is centered on Ji Parana, Brazil. The first project was held in January and February, in conjunction with the Brazilian Large Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere experiment (LBA). Two field projects in 1999 were designed as ground validation experiments for the TRMM satellite. In situ data from two field campaigns that are associated with the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) were utilized for this study. With the exception of the Monsoon Experiment (MONEX), all of the studies in Table 1 use the updraft core definition of LeMone and Zipser (1980). Table 1 reviews previous studies that have dealt with tropical updraft cores since the GATE papers. They applied these criteria to vertical velocity events during the Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP) Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE). Updraft cores are required to have a vertical velocity of 1 m s −1 or more for a length of at least 500 m.

This paper examines the structure of updrafts, following the definition of an updraft core in LeMone and Zipser (1980), which has been used in previous tropical updraft studies. The results are compared to the results from previous tropical oceanic updraft measurements and a second region that was studied in the central tropical Pacific. This paper provides the first measurements of this type made in an important continental tropical region, the southern Amazon region of Brazil (during the wet season), and includes measurements at higher altitudes than previously have been reported. However, the in situ studies to date have been in oceanic tropical regions, and only a few regions have been studied.

These studies, which are described below, provide much of the basis for our current understanding of tropical updraft structure together with remote sensing and modeling studies. Previous studies have successfully used in situ airborne measurements of updraft kinematics to examine several features of tropical updrafts. The study of updrafts in tropical clouds is an essential part of research on tropical convective systems.

Updraft novel