DYNAMO Convective Systems – Insights from Data Provided by the NOAA P-3 Aircraft

One of the primary goals of the DYNAMO project (Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation -MJO) are to better understand the structure of convective cloud systems and their large-scale environment in the MJO region to improve MJO forecasts within the climate-system models. During 10 November- 15 December 2011, one of the NOAA P-3 instrumented aircraft was deployed to Diego Garcia, an island in the British Indian Ocean Territories, to gather data on cloud systems within the DYNAMO domain. In particular, the vertically scanning tail-mounted X-band radar and GPS dropwindsones, are used to document the structures of various mesoscale convective systems (MCS) observed during the phases of the MJO. An overview of the convective structures seen during during the project will be given and a few selected case studies will be presented to illustrate typical MCS structures seen in the airborne Doppler and dropsonde data sets. Bulk characteristics of MCSs in various MJO phases will be shown such as reflectivity and airflow relative to convective features, the depth and strength of near-surface cold pools from dropsonde data, and typical environmental proximity soundings of the MCSs