Shipboard Radar Rainfall Patterns within the TOGA COARE IFA (original) (raw)

Observed Regional and Temporal Variability of Rainfall Over the Tropical Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

2002

Determining the diurnal cycle in rainfall is a fundamental step towards understanding the processes that control convection in the tropics. The dependence of the stage of convection on time of day provides clues as to what constitutes a favorable environment for convective development, and what processes are important at different points in the convective life-cycle. The seasonal and regional modulation of the diurnal cycle provide further clues regarding these processes. Most studies of the diurnal cycle in tropical oceanic rainfall rely on indirect measurements of precipitation from satellites (e.g. Reed and Jaffe 1981; Albright et al. 1985; Janowiak et al. 1994; Chen and Houze 1997; Yang and Slingo 2001). Sui et al. (1997) use data from surface radars to investigate the diurnal cycle in rainfall in the western tropical Pacific, but this study is limited in both space and time, and also involves indirect measurements of rainfall. Gray and Jacobson (1977) use direct measurements of...