Isolated vs. Organized Oceanic Convection during CPEX 2017: Relationship with Environmental Conditions

The NASA-Supported Convective Processes Experiment (CPEX 2017) employed about 100 flight hours of the DC-8 based in Ft. Lauderdale FL, investigating conditions ranging from undisturbed and almost cloud-free conditions to mostly small mesoscale convective systems, but also obtained data during the development of Tropical Storm Cindy before and during its landfall in Louisiana. Instrumentation included a wind lidar, dropsondes, dual-frequency radar, and multi-frequency microwave profiler. This paper focuses on a select few of the flight missions, contrasting isolated with organized convection and seeking explanation for the differences as a function of differing environmental conditions, including especially targeted dropsonde and wind lidar observations.