Deep Convection Initiation, Growth, and Environments in the Complex Terrain of Central Argentina during CACTI

Abstract

Abstract This study characterizes the wide range of deep convective cloud life cycles and their relationships with ambient environments observed during the Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) field campaign near the Sierras de Córdoba (SDC) range in central Argentina. We develop a novel convective cell tracking database for the entire field campaign using C-band polarimetric radar observations. The cell tracking database includes timing, location, area, depth, merge/split information, microphysical properties, collocated satellite-retrieved cloud properties, and sounding-derived environmental conditions. Results show that the SDC exerts a strong control on convection initiation (CI) and growth. CI preferentially occurs east of the SDC ridge during the afternoon, and cells often undergo upscale growth through the evening as they travel eastward toward the plains. Larger and more intense cells tend to occur in more unstable and humid low-level environments, and surface-based cells are stronger than elevated cells. Midtropospheric relative humidity and vertical wind shear also jointly affect the size and depth of the cells. Rapid cell area growth rates exhibit dependence on both large environmental wind shear and low-level moisture. Evolution of convective cell macro- and microphysical properties are strongly influenced by convective available potential energy and low-level humidity, as well as the presence of other cells in their vicinity. This cell tracking database demonstrates a framework that ties measurements from various platforms centering around convective life cycles to facilitate process understanding of factors that control convective evolution. Significance Statement The purpose of this study is to develop a framework that ties coordinated radar, satellite, and radiosonde measurements around tracking convective storm life cycles to facilitate process understanding of atmospheric environments that control storm evolution. The processes coupling storm life cycles and local environments remain inadequately understood and are poorly represented in weather and climate models. Our results demonstrate the importance of atmospheric instability, low- and midtropospheric moisture, changes of wind with height, and interactions among nearby storms in affecting the formation and growth of convective storms. The storm database developed in this work enables future studies for comprehensive exploration of processes that lead to improved mechanistic understanding of storm evolution and their representations in models.