Shallow convection on day 261 of GATE: mesoscale arcs.

Abstract

On 18 September 1974, a cloud cluster growing in the GATE ship array was examined. In and above southerly surface monsoon flow approaching the cluster, clouds indigenous to the moist layer took the form of rows of tiny cumulus, and of arcs of cumulus mediocris, with patterns different from those of deeper clouds. The mesoscale cloud patterns of the moist layer appeared to play a primary role in heat transfer upward within this layer, and contributed to the forcing of showering midtropospheric clouds. -from Authors