Investigating Hector Convective Development and Microphysical Structure Using High-Resolution Model Simulations, Ground-Based Radar Data, and TRMM Satellite Data

One event of a tropical thunderstorm typically observed in northern Australia, known as Hector, is investigated using high-resolution model output from the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU-NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) observations from a ground-based weather radar located in Berrimah (Australia) and data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. The analysis is carried out by tracking the full life cycle of Hector from prestorm stage to the decaying stage. In both the prestorm stage, characterized by nonprecipitating cells, and the triggering stage, when the Hector storm is effectively initiated, an analysis is performed with the aid of high-spatial-and-temporal-resolution MM5 output and the Berrimah ground-based radar imagery. During the mature ("old") stage of Hector, considering the conceptual model for tropical convection suggested by R. Houze, TRMM Microwave Imager satellite-based data were added to ground-based radar data to analyze the storm vertical structure (dynamics, thermodynamics, and hydrometeor contents). Model evaluation with respect to observations (radar reflectivity and TRMM data) suggests that MM5 performed fairly well in reproducing the dynamics of Hector, providing support to the assertion that the strength of convection, in terms of vertical velocity, largely contributes to the vertical distribution of hydrometeors. Moreover, the stages of the storm and its vertical structure display good agreement with Houze's aforementioned conceptual model. Finally, it was found that the most important triggering mechanisms for this Hector event are topography, the sea breeze, and a gust front produced by previous convection.