Relating radar-derived cloud populations and the vertical structure of heating in equatorial waves

The Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment provides an ideal framework to study tropical heating given the large amount of data collected. During the experiment a number of two day waves, as well as two Madden-Julian Oscillations (MJOs), passed over the Intensive Flux Array. An analysis shows a strong relationship between the vertical structure of heating and the populations of convective clouds with different heights. The heating is determined using atmospheric budgets based on sounding data, and is projected onto vertical normal modes. Convective cloud numbers are based on echo heights measured by the MIT radar located on the Vickers. It is assumed that the echo tops and the clouds tops are nearly the same for convective clouds. Composite structures of heating and cloud populations are constructed for both two day waves and MJOs, and similar relationships between modes of heating and cloud depths are found for both disturbances. The question of whether cloud populations can be used to estimate heating is addressed.