Structure of the Mixed Layer and Inversion Layer Associated with Patterns of Mesoscale Cellular Convection During AMTEX 75

Abstract

Abstract Aerological data from the Air Mass Transformation Experiment (AMTEX) conducted during the period 14 February–1 March 1975 have been analyzed to study the mixed layer and capping inversion layer associated with mesoscale cellular convection (MCC) created in a cold continental air mass heated from below by a warm ocean surface. Six horizontal analyses of the depth of the mixed layer were superimposed on their respective satellite images which contained MCC events in the AMTEX region. In all six cases, open cells tended to lie in the troughs and closed cells in the ridges of the convective depth contour pattern. Vertical cross sections revealed that the actual transition from a coexisting region of open cells to an adjacent region of closed cells may actually occur at a point of inflection where the mixed layer depth contour pattern changes from a plano-concave shape to a plano-convex shape. Mean convective depths for open and closed cells were 1529 and 2066 m, respectively, based on 15 soundings in...