The cold-core temperature structure in a tropical easterly wave

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify what effects are responsible for the observed temperature field, in particular the lower-level cold core, in the trough region of a convectively active tropical easterly wave disturbance. The central result of the analysis is that the lower cold-core temperature anomaly observed in the near-trough region of easterly wave disturbances is not a direct consequence of the distribution of latent heat released by cumulus clouds, but reflects instead a balance of forces that dominate the momentum field and that the agreement between the observed and diagnosed temperature fields is dominated by the rotational component of the flow. -from Author