Abstract Rawinsonde data from CIATE were used to investigate further the relationships between deep convection and large-scale circulations. The data were analyzed at all of the individual observation times and with composites ~ on rainfall rate. The net latent heating rate was found to he strongly related to horizontal divergence between the surface and 700 mb and from 150 to 350 mb, but not to middle level divergence. It was also wrongly correlated with horizontal moisture convergence below 500 mb and with vertical velocity, particularly in the middle levels. The latter result is in close agreement with the findings of earlier studies which estimated convection from diagnostic models. Spectral analyses of radar-es6mated rainfall showed that the convection varied significantly only at frequencies corresponding to those of easterly waves and the diurnal cycle supporting the satellite data analyses of Murakami. Conditional instability averaged over the A/B array varied substantially with time and was poorl...