1. Multisensor Investigation of Deep Convection AGU, San Francisco, 5 December 2012 Robert A. Houze, Jr., & Jian Yuan University of Washington

2. Mesoscale Convective Systems “MCSs”

3. Large areas of cold top Example outbreak of MCSs

4. 1458GMT 13 May 2004 Convective Precipitation Stratiform Precipitation Radar echoes showing the precipitation in the 3 MCSs

5. How do MCS properties vary globally?

6. Details learned from field projects Houze et al. 1989

7. Basic components Houze et al. 1989 Anvil Raining core Cold top

8. The 3 basic components can be determined from A-Train! 1 2 3

9. Combining cloud top and raining core properties to determine MCS existence

10. 260K Closed contour Rain Heavy rain Identify High Cloud Systems (HCSs) Connected MCSs Separated MCS

11. Which HCSs are MCSs? Yuan and Houze 2010

12. PDF of rain amount as a function of raining core properties Size of raining core Min TB11 over raining core 2000 km 2 220 °K  56% all tropical rain Using these values for “MCS” criteria Yuan and Houze 2010

13. MCSs Over the Whole Tropics Smallest 25% (<12,000 km 2 ) Largest 25% (>40,000 km 2 ) “Superclusters” Yuan and Houze 2010

14. MODIS/AMSR-E  identifies cold top  locates the raining core  remainder is anvil Anvil Raining core Cold top

15. Frequency of MCS anvils over tropics Yuan and Houze 2010

16. The Anvil Problem Extensively studied Need to understand how anvil is related to the raining region Mesoscale Convective System

17. CloudSat applied to MCS anvils

18. Statistics of anvil width & thickness seen by CloudSat Yuan and Houze 2010 AfricaIndian Ocean

19. Internal structure of MCS anvils CV CV Indian Ocean Anvils

20. Yuan, Houze, and Heymsfield 2011 AfricaIndian Ocean Internal structure of MCS anvils

21. Future Work

22. Multisensor identification of MCSs makes it possible to answer important questions about the global variability of MCSs Thin-cloud extent of the MCS anvils? Thin-cloud extent of the MCS anvils?CALIPSO Environments of MCSs? Environments of MCSs? Reanalysis, AIRS Aerosol environments? Aerosol environments? CALIPSO, MODIS Electrical properties? Electrical properties? WWLLN, other networks

23. Summary Future studies  CALIPSO —thin cloud extent of MCS anvils CALIPSO —thin cloud extent of MCS anvils MODIS & CALIPSO —aerosol environment of MCSs MODIS & CALIPSO —aerosol environment of MCSs WWLLN —electrification of MCSs WWLLN —electrification of MCSs MODIS Tb11, AMSR-E, & CloudSat  mapping of Mesoscale Convective Systems and their anvil clouds mapping of Mesoscale Convective Systems and their anvil clouds

24. End This research was supported by NASA grants NNX10AH70G, NNX10AM28G, and NSF grant AGS1144105 and NSF grant AGS1144105

25. End This research was supported by NASA grants NNX10AH70G, NNX10AM28G, and NSF grant AGS1144105 and NSF grant AGS1144105

26. Indian Ocean MCSs Contribution to Rainfall by phase of the Madden-Julian Oscillation Yuan and Houze 2012 Connected MCSs Other high cloud systems

27. convective rainstratiform rain graupel snow Conceptual model of anvil microphysics Cetrone and Houze 2011