25th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology

Tuesday, 30 April 2002: 9:30 AM
A multiple aircraft experiment in Hurricane Humberto (2001): Part 2, Precipitation fields
Edward J. Zipser, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; and G. M. Heymsfield, D. J. Cecil, R. Blakeslee, S. Durden, J. F. Gamache, and F. D. Marks Jr.
The 3 consecutive multi-aircraft missions in Humberto encompassed 2 days of intensification from tropical storm status into a Category 2 hurricane, followed by one day of weakening back to Category 1. Against the background of the wind fields described in Part 1, this paper outlines the comprehensive observations on the cloud and precipitation fields. Data come from the ER-2 Doppler radar (EDOP), the Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR), the Lightning Instrument Package on both the ER-2 and DC-8 including electric fields, the conically scanning 2-look airborne radiometer (C-STAR), the Second Generation Precipitation Radar (PR-2), and the two precipitation radars on the NOAA WP-3Ds. The marked asymmetry of the precipitation patterns is striking on all 3 days, as is the preference of strong convection for the north side of the eyewall. The changes in properties of the deep convection on the 3 days will be highlighted in the context of the wind and thermodynamic fields.

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