Characteristics of deep convection measured by using the A‐train constellation

We show characteristics of a tropical deep convection observed in an experiment employing the A‐train constellation, the spaceborne imager Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the sounder Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)‐advanced microwave sounding unit (AMSU), the cloud radar CloudSat, and the lidar Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarisation (CALIOP). CloudSat and CALIOP measured a vertical cross section of a deep convection at 1.1 km from its center, where the center is defined as the local minimum of the brightness temperature TB (11 mm) measured by using MODIS. This deep convection should be overshooting since its cloud top height measured by using CALIOP was 840 m higher than that of 380 K potential temperature as estimated by using AIRS‐AMSU data. The cloud morphology observed by using CALIOP indicates that deep convections raised the isentropic surface in the tropical tropopause layer and that there were downdrafts around the deep convection. The averaged mode radius of ice particles and ice water content (IWC) in the deep convection above 380 K are estimated as 23.0 ± 4.9 mm and 7.2 ± 8.0 mg/m3, respectively, by the use of CloudSat and CALIOP data. The volume of the deep convection above a height of 380 K and the averaged IWC, of which the particle size is less than 20 mm, are estimated and the deep convection has the potential to hydrate the stratosphere with about 1 × 102 t of water vapor. We also show deep convections above a height of 380 K are not rare phenomena over the tropical land and warm water pool.