Ground-based observations of overshooting convection during the Tropical Warm Pool-International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE)

The Tropical Warm Pool-International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE), conducted in and around Darwin, Australia in January and February 2006, provided an extensive observational dataset that included the sampling of three distinct convective regimes. A primary source of observations during the campaign was the C-band polarimetric (C-POL) radar at Gunn Point, 20 km northeast of Darwin. With its relatively high temporal resolution (10-min volume scans) and relatively high vertical coverage, C-POL has the potential to quantify the frequency of overshooting convection in the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL), along with its areal extent and depth.

In this study, we utilize the gridded C-POL dataset and examine the efficacy of ground-based radar to characterize the statistics of overshooting events for the two main convective regimes experienced during TWP-ICE, namely the active (`wet') phase of the monsoon and the `break' period. Bulk statistics such as mean duration, overshooting area and echo-top heights are compared in order to understand whether such measures vary considerably between the two characteristically different regimes and why. Potential caveats due to observational biases and their implications for accurately estimating the total amount of (particulate) water transported by overshoots into the TTL during TWP-ICE will be briefly discussed.