Distributions of hydrometeors in the ice- and mixed-phase regions of cloud systems have important implications for radiative processes. In the tropics, hydrometeors in the ice and mix-phased regions are usually associated with deep convection, and expansive precipitating mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), which produce anvils with large areal extents and thickness. These can exist for many hours, thus affecting the transfer of radiation for a significant amount of time. Previous studies have developed a conceptual model of these MCSs using centimeter wavelength radars; however, these methods have only been successful in describing the precipitating regions of these systems. New radar and lidar technologies are used in this study to describe the characteristics of the anvil clouds produced by MCSs, and the conceptual model of these systems can be improved to include both the precipitating and non-precipitating hydrometeors of an MCS.

The climatology of the amount and distribution of anvil clouds will be carried out by analyzing the CloudSat radar data from the first year of data from three regions of interest: Darwin, Australia, the Bay of Bengal, and in Niamey, Niger (West Africa). These three locations are regions that are among the most impacted by monsoonal precipitation on the planet and are associated with frequent large MCSs during the active phase of the monsoon. In addition to CloudSat, CALIPSO lidar data will be used to determine the full extent of the anvil clouds since the CloudSat radar cannot see the thin cirrus that extends the edges of the anvil. Radar reflectivity data from the TRMM precipitation radar over the three regions will be analyzed in order to obtain information about the precipitating hydrometeors. Data from CloudSat, CALIPSO, and TRMM can be used in concert to establish climatologies of and relationships between the precipitation and anvil regions of the MCSs for the three regions.

Scanning precipitation radars and radiosondes were operational over Darwin and Niamey during the analysis times, and infrared satellite data is available for all three regions. Thus case study analyses can be performed over Darwin and Niamey because of the simultaneous view of both the cloud and precipitation structure of a certain MCSs. Combining the water budget equations of Houze et al. (1980) with three-dimensional precipitation radar reflectivity, sounding data, satellite observations, and millimeter cloud radar data, the water budget of an MCS can be estimated and the conceptual model of an MCS improved.