Radar-derived estimates of latent heating in the subtropics

Atmospheric warming from cloud heating has a major affect on worldwide atmo spheric circulations and climate. Studies have shown that the dominant sour ce for cloud heating is the phase change of water. The location and magnitu de of cloud beating has a substantial impact on atmospheric circulations. T herefore, identifying the location of phase changes provides information ne cessary for accurate modeling of atmospheric circulations and climate. Radar reflectivity is a signature predominantly produced from rain formed f rom condensation, the primary process that produces heating. Through the ap plication of principal component analysis on a nonhydrostatic cloud model, heating, and derived reflectivity data, a technique to illustrate a future heating algorithm capable of estimating cloud heating from reflectivity dat a is examined. Formative, intensifying, and mature stages of a Convection a nd Precipitation Electrification Experiment squall-type convective system w ere used to demonstrate these results. The accuracy of the technique's esti mates for the mean convective and stratiform profiles to within 1.0 K h(-1) on average throughout the vertical column shows the merit of this statisti cal technique. The use of this type of technique in conjunction with the ne twork of NEXRAD and spaceborne radars could provide valuable data for appli cations ranging from cumulus parameterization to 4D data assimilation and m odel initialization.