Amazon's Multifaceted Convective Systems

This presentation will describe mesoscale convective processes that occur across the Amazon basin framed by GoAmazon2014/5, the two-year DOE field campaign that recently took place in the central Amazon. Using satellite data, we first examine the genesis regions and propagation of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) from the east coast of South America to the western Amazon. While many MCSs begin on the coast, very few survive more than a few hundred km resulting in a regional minimum of MCS activity. There is renewed occurrence and propagation of MCSs in the central Amazon, which argues for dynamics very different than those associated with the sea breeze. The genesis and maturation of MCSs is then examined more locally in the central Amazon using radar observations from GoAmazon2014/5. Focus is placed on determining downdraft characteristics and downward transport across the SIPAM Manaus S-band radar domain. This work provides a dynamical link to previous research that has shown ozone enhancements and an increase in small particles in the boundary layer in the vicinity of Amazonian convection. Finally, the properties of the cold pools produced by the observed downdrafts will be detailed using measurements from the DOE mobile facility at Manacapuru, including analysis of the evolution of boundary layer ozone in the cold pools. The talk will end with a few thoughts about representing these kind of mesoscale convective processes in climate models.