John Molinari reported that mid-September 2001 was very active convectively in the east Pacific, while early October was inactive. The ITCZ shows up best (as an east-west line of convection at a definite latitude) in inactive periods. The easterly waves which passed through during the project tilted NE-SW.
Rob Cifelli reported that peak convective activity occurs about two days before easterly wave trough passage, as defined by low surface pressure. Three easterly wave passages were documented by the Ron Brown during it's residence at 95 W, 10 N. West of the trough in the northerly flow regime, strong convection exists. In and east of the trough the regime is much more stratiform in nature. The most intense convection in the diurnal cycle occurs near 0200 LT.
Darrel Baumgardner reported that aerosol concentrations varied widely, depending on wind direction, with the highest concentrations occurring in offshore winds. These high concentrations are sufficiently large to completely suppress warm rain production. Increasing wind speeds result in increasing concentration of giant nuclei.
Carlos López reported on progress in analyzing the Doppler radar data from the NOAA P-3 aircraft. This analysis is well under way.
David Raymond found that convection in the east Pacific ITCZ varied directly with surface wind speed, implicating surface total heat flux as a driving mechanism for deep convection.