Cloud vertical structure over the Bay of Bengal and eastern tropical Pacific

The cloud vertical structure associated with monsoon onset at the middle of the Bay of Bengal (11N, 89E) is examined using a ship-based cloud radar. It is compared to similar data from the eastern tropical Pacific, and to four months of similarly-located CloudSat data. Both radar datasets find relatively more cloudiness at 10-km altitude over the Bay of Bengal than over the eastern tropical Pacific, and more low-level cloudiness over the eastern tropical Pacific than over the Bay of Bengal. This is consistent with buoyancy-sorting model calculations, but advection of ice clouds by upper-level easterly winds is also thought to contribute to the upper-tropospheric Bay of Bengal cloudiness. Melting-level cloud populations differ between the datasets and regions.