Convective cloud top vertical velocity estimated from geostationary satellite rapid-scan measurements

Abstract

We demonstrate that the rate of development of cumulus clouds, as inferred from the so-called geostationary satellite “rapid-scan” measurements, is a good proxy for convective cloud top vertical velocity related to deep convective clouds. Convective cloud top vertical velocity is estimated from the decreasing rate of infrared brightness temperature observed by the Multi-functional Transport SATellite-1R (MTSAT-1R) over the ocean south of Japan during boreal summer. The frequency distribution of the estimated convective cloud top vertical velocity at each height is shown to distribute lognormally, and it is consistent with the statistical characteristics of direct measurements acquired in previous studies.