Isolated vs. Organized Convection Around the Globe from 10-Years of GPM Observations

It is well known that precipitation can arise either from multiple rain cells or organized mesoscale convective systems in a moist convective environment. To determine the conditions under which organized and isolated convection occur around the globe, the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Precipitation Features (PFs) are used to provide the basis to classify the isolated and organized scenarios. First, the properties of 10-year GPM PFs in each orbit are summarized in 2^ox2^o boxes from 65^oS-65^o N. A box is classified as organized if the size of the largest PF accounts for at least 90% of the total raining area within the box. Conversely, it is deemed isolated when the total precipitation volume reaches at least 8500 mm/h km² (in the 90th percentile), the number of PFs in the box is five or more, and the largest PF’s area does not exceed three times the average area of all PFs in the box. Preliminary results show that both isolated and organized precipitation features are predominantly found in the tropics. However, organized precipitation also occurs over the ocean in the subtropics and mid-latitudes, mainly in the Southern Hemisphere. Significant hot zones for both isolated and organized precipitation are identified over the Amazon and the Maritime Continent. For isolated precipitation, East Africa stands out as a hotspot. To explore the specific conditions associated with these precipitation features, an analysis using thermodynamic variables from the ERA5 reanalysis product is conducted for cases within these hotspot regions.