OBSERVATIONS OF MESOSCALE CELLULAR CONVECTION FROM THE MARINE STRATOCUMULUS PHASE OF FIRE

A common mode of convection within the atmospheric boundary layer, mes oscale cellular convection (MCC), assumes the form of an organized arr ay of three-dimensional polygonal cells. This study employs aircraft d ata, collected off the coast of California during the marine stratocum ulus phase of the First ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatolo gy Project) Regional Experiment (FIRE), to investigate the closed cell variety of MCC, Forty-five transects of closed marine mesoscale conve ctive cells are utilized in this study. Data from these transects are used to calculate first-order and scale-dependent second-order kinemat ic, thermodynamic, and radiation statistics. From these statistics, a conceptual model of closed MCC is constructed detailing the horizontal and vertical structure of the tells in coupled as well as decoupled b oundary-layer environments. Mesoscale convective cells not only have a profound influence on the radiation budget of their environment, but also play a key role in governing the exchange of heat, moisture, and momentum between the atmosphere and the surface. During FIRE, the MCC- scale structures were found to be buoyantly-driven above cloud base an d driven by perturbation pressure forces below. Microscale eddies gene rally worked in tandem with these MCC-scale structures to transport he at and moisture vertically throughout the cells. Microscale eddies wer e responsible for most of this transport within the surface layer, whi le MCC-scale structures performed most of the transport at mid-levels within the cells.