Observations of cirrus cloud evolution during the tropical warm pool international cloud experiment

The evolution of cirrus from detrained convective outflow into large-scale persistent cloud systems is not well understood. At times, cirrus properties such as ice water content and particle size appear to evolve over periods of several tens of hours, while at other times the anvils are found to sublimate rapidly. To form a more complete understanding of these processes, the temporal evolution of the cloud systems can be followed using geostationary satellite imagery. Using data from the MTSAT-1R Satellite over tropical Australia, cirrus cloud systems that were studied by in situ aircraft and ground-based remote sensors are tracked backwards in time from the time they were observed until they reached a convective origin. This thesis presents results that demonstrate that it is possible to track cirrus clouds in the tropics using satellite imagery and model analyses as guidance. The sensitivity of observed cloud properties to the length of time since the cirrus are detrained from deep convection under various largescale meteorological conditions is examined.