| Description |
This work examines in detail the lifecycles of the convection on 20, 23, and 24 May 2011 during the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) field experiment in Oklahoma. Furthermore, specific attention is given to the environmental mechanisms that affect the propagation, maintenance, strength, and morphology of organized convection for the duration of the three cases. This study was conducted using the MC3E field campaign observational database, with particular emphasis on ground and airborne radar, radiosonde, and Oklahoma Mesonet data. This work was motivated by the goals of the MC3E field campaign, including improved understanding of convective evolution, organized convection, microphysics, ultimately leading to improvement of parameterization of convection and mesoscale processes in weather and climate models, and improvement of retrievals of precipitation by remote sensing. The three cases examined exhibited leading line/trailing stratiform mesoscale convective system, supercell, and back-building convective structures, each with a complex evolution. From the data analyzed for these cases, we suggest that given certain initial conditions, the vertical wind shear profile is the dominant factor in the determination of storm morphology. If the source of the buoyant updraft is renewed throughout a system's lifetime, then a convective system's propagation and longevity is tied strongly to the strength of the cold pool produced by convective downdrafts, and formation of new convection along the boundaries of the pool. |
