Thick Anvils as Viewed by the TRMM Precipitation Radar

This study investigates anvils from thick, nonprecipitating clouds associated with deep convection as observed in the tropics by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) during the 10-yr period, 1998-2007. Anvils observable by the PR occur, on average, 5 out of every 100 days within grid boxes with 2.5 degrees resolution and with a conditional areal coverage of 1.5%. Unconditional areal coverage is only a few tenths of a percent. Anvils also had an average 17-dBZ echo top of similar to 8.5 km and an average thickness of similar to 2.7 km. Anvils were usually higher and thicker over land compared to ocean, and occurred most frequently over Africa, the Maritime Continent, and Panama. Anvil properties were intimately tied to the properties of the parent convection. In particular, anvil area and echo-top heights were highly correlated to convective rain area. The next best predictor for anvil areal coverage and echo tops was convective echo tops, while convective reflectivities had the weakest correlation. Strong upper-level wind shear also may be associated with anvil occurrence over land, especially when convection regularly attains echo-top heights greater than 7 km. Some tropical land regions, especially those affected by monsoon circulations, experience significant seasonal variability in anvil properties-strong interannual anvil variability occurs over the central Pacific because of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation. Compared to the CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar, the TRMM PR underestimates anvil-top height by an average of 5 km and underestimates their horizontal extent by an average factor of 4.