Here we are able to isolate a line of strong convection consisting of intense vortices concentrated in small regions with a strong local circulation, and with downdrafts located along its sides. We find strong reflectivities (> 40 dbz) with maximum updrafts around 6 km which is indicative of a vigorous convective system in an early evolutionary stage. The feature develops in a high vorticity environment and within it we find vorticity in excess of 100 times the Coriolis parameter.
Of particular importance is the ability of this analysis to distinguish between the convective updraft and downdraft contributions to the vertical mass flux. The convective downdrafts peak at low levels and quickly drop off with height. Furthermore they only contribute in a minor way to the total vertical mass flux profile denoting the dominance of the convective updrafts for this particular convective system.
Thus far we have only studied this system but we plan to extend the analysis for comparative purposes to include cases where deep convective towers develop in low vorticity environments.
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