Relationship between Horizontal and Vertical Size of Convective Cells Observed during DYNAMO

The vertical extent of cumulus convection is one of the important features that need to be simulated correctly in climate models. Although it is believed that a horizontally larger convection reaches to a higher level, the relationship between horizontal size and vertical extent of the convective cells has not been fully investigated. In this study, the relationship between horizontal and vertical size of convective cell is examined using volume scans from Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching Radar (SMART-R) during the period of DYNAMO. We first identify convective cells from 3-dimensional reflectivity data, and then apply the Storm Cell Identification and Tracking (SCIT) algorithm to obtain the characteristics of each convective cell. From this algorithm, we determine the vertical extent and the maximum horizontal area, which is a maximum extent of cell area among that of all levels, of the convective cells. A joint probability density function (PDF) between maximum horizontal area and vertical extent of the convective cells will be constructed on a daily basis. A particular interest is on the variability of the joint PDF associated with the phase of the Madden-Julian oscillation. The effect of column water on the joint PDF will be also investigated.