This paper uses published work to demonstrate the link between surface moisture and heat fluxes and cumulus convective rainfall. The Earth’s surface role with respect to the surface energy and moisture budgets is examined. Changes in land-surface properties are shown to influence the heat and moisture fluxes within the planetary boundary layer, convective available potential energy, and other m...

This study attempts to understand interactions between midlatitude convective systems and their environments through a heat and moisture budget analysis using the sounding data collected from the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) in central Oklahoma. Distinct large-scale structures and diabatic heating and drying profiles are presented for cases of weaker and elevated ...

Previous observations and simulations suggest that an approximate 38–58C warming occurred at intermediate depths in theNorthAtlantic over severalmillennia duringHeinrich stadial 1 (HS1), which induces warm salty water (WSW) lying beneath surface cold freshwater. This arrangement eventually generates ocean convective available potential energy (OCAPE), themaximumpotential energy releasable by ad...

We have used warm-season data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program's Southern Great Plains site to investigate he joint variability of the temperature and moisture soundings, and their relationship tothe variability of the generalized convective available potential energy (GCAPE). The actual temperature and humidity soundings vary together in such a way as to produce variati...

Interactions between soil moisture and the atmosphere are driven by the partitioning of sensible and latent heating, through which soil moisture has been connected to atmospheric modifications that could potentially lead to the initiation of convective precipitation. The majority of previous studies linking the land surface to subsequent precipitation have used atmospheric reanalysis or model d...

Gravitational potential energy (GPE) is lost during convective adjustment. Using monthly mean climatological datasets, the annual mean GPE loss due to convective adjustment in the world oceans is estimated at 0.24 TW. Conversion from the mean-state GPE to eddies GPE and kinetic energy (KE) is also estimated, using the commonly accepted Gent-McWilliams scheme. Our estimate is that about 1.1TW is...

A multi-parameter index has been developed to assess the magnitude of convective downbursts associated with heavy precipitation-producing, deep convective storm systems that occur over the central and eastern continental United States. The Wet Microburst Severity Index (WMSI) is composed of relevant parameters that represent the simultaneous physical processes of convective updraft development ...