Thermodynamic Classification of Tropical Convective Soundings

Abstract

Soundings from a land tropical experiment (VIMHEX II) are classified according to local area rainfall into four regimes depicting the transition from dry to highly disturbed days. The thermodynamic structure for each of the four regimes is presented, and the implications for convective parameterization theories and the prediction problem are discussed in terms of the potential energy available for parcel convection for different entrainment rates.