Articles | Volume 21, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12261-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12261-2021
Research article
 | 
16 Aug 2021
Research article |  | 16 Aug 2021

Deciphering organization of GOES-16 green cumulus through the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) lens

Tom Dror, Mickaël D. Chekroun, Orit Altaratz, and Ilan Koren

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Subject: Clouds and Precipitation | Research Activity: Remote Sensing | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
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Cited articles

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A part of continental shallow convective cumulus (Cu) was shown to share properties such as organization and formation over vegetated areas, thus named green Cu. Mechanisms behind the formed patterns are not understood. We use different metrics and an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) to decompose the dataset and quantify organization factors (cloud streets and gravity waves). We show that clouds form a highly organized grid structure over hundreds of kilometers at the field lifetime.
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