PNNL

Abstract

A radar wind pro?ler data set collected during the 2 year Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Observations and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon2014/5) campaign is used to estimate convective cloud vertical velocity, area fraction, and mass ?ux pro?les. Vertical velocity observations are presented using cumulative frequency histograms and weighted mean pro?les to provide insights in a manner suitable for global climate model scale comparisons (spatial domains from 20 km to 60 km). Convective pro?le sensitivity to changes in environmental conditions and seasonal regime controls is also considered. Aggregate and ensemble average vertical velocity, convective area fraction, and mass ?ux pro?les, as well as magnitudes and relative pro?le behaviors, are found consistent with previous studies. Updrafts and downdrafts increase in magnitude with height to midlevels (6 to 10 km), with updraft area also increasing with height. Updraft mass ?ux pro?les similarly increase with height, showing a peak in magnitude near 8 km. Downdrafts are observed to be most frequent below the freezing level, with downdraft area monotonically decreasing with height. Updraft and downdraft pro?le behaviors are further strati?ed according to environmental controls. These results indicate stronger vertical velocity pro?le behaviors under higher convective available potential energy and lower low-level moisture conditions. Sharp contrasts in convective area fraction and mass ?ux pro?les are most pronounced when retrievals are segregated according to Amazonian wet and dry season conditions. During this deployment, wet season regimes favored higher domain mass ?ux pro?les, attributed to more frequent convection that offsets weaker average convective cell vertical velocities.