Abstract
Empirical relationships between tropical sea surface temperature (SST) and atmospheric deep convection are examined. Large-scale features of tropical deep convection are estimated from two independent satellite datasets: monthly mean outgoing longwave radiation of 15 years and high-resolution pentad (5 day) fractional coverage of infrared radiation histograms of 5 years. Results based on the two datasets lead to the same conclusions. Deep convection remains weak and rarely observed for SST <26°C; the frequency and mean intensity of deep convection substantially increase with SST from 26°C up to about 29.5°-30°C, and then decay for further increasing SST. Meanwhile, in the warm pool region with SST >27°C, situations of no deep convection and vigorous deep convection can both be observed; the areal coverage of convectively related high clouds is always dominated by that of clear sky and low clouds. The variability of deep convection, thus becomes larger for higher SST. -from Author
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1898-1913 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Journal of Climate |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| State | Published - 1993 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Atmospheric Science
Cite this
Large-scale variability of atmospheric deep convection in relation to sea surface temperature in the tropics. / Zhang, Chidong.
In: Journal of Climate, Vol. 6, No. 10, 1993, p. 1898-1913.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Large-scale variability of atmospheric deep convection in relation to sea surface temperature in the tropics
AU - Zhang, Chidong
PY - 1993
Y1 - 1993
N2 - Empirical relationships between tropical sea surface temperature (SST) and atmospheric deep convection are examined. Large-scale features of tropical deep convection are estimated from two independent satellite datasets: monthly mean outgoing longwave radiation of 15 years and high-resolution pentad (5 day) fractional coverage of infrared radiation histograms of 5 years. Results based on the two datasets lead to the same conclusions. Deep convection remains weak and rarely observed for SST <26°C; the frequency and mean intensity of deep convection substantially increase with SST from 26°C up to about 29.5°-30°C, and then decay for further increasing SST. Meanwhile, in the warm pool region with SST >27°C, situations of no deep convection and vigorous deep convection can both be observed; the areal coverage of convectively related high clouds is always dominated by that of clear sky and low clouds. The variability of deep convection, thus becomes larger for higher SST. -from Author
AB - Empirical relationships between tropical sea surface temperature (SST) and atmospheric deep convection are examined. Large-scale features of tropical deep convection are estimated from two independent satellite datasets: monthly mean outgoing longwave radiation of 15 years and high-resolution pentad (5 day) fractional coverage of infrared radiation histograms of 5 years. Results based on the two datasets lead to the same conclusions. Deep convection remains weak and rarely observed for SST <26°C; the frequency and mean intensity of deep convection substantially increase with SST from 26°C up to about 29.5°-30°C, and then decay for further increasing SST. Meanwhile, in the warm pool region with SST >27°C, situations of no deep convection and vigorous deep convection can both be observed; the areal coverage of convectively related high clouds is always dominated by that of clear sky and low clouds. The variability of deep convection, thus becomes larger for higher SST. -from Author
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M3 - Article
VL - 6
SP - 1898
EP - 1913
JO - Journal of Climate
JF - Journal of Climate
SN - 0894-8755
IS - 10
ER -