Mid-Level Vorticity in Mesoscale Convective Systems

The objective of this study has been to examine and document the development of mid-level Mesoscale Convective Vortices (MCVs) within Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs) and Mesoscale Convective Complexes (MCCs) using the Central Plains Wind Profiler Demonstration Network (WPDN). Nine MCSs from the summer of 1993 were picked for this study based on their formation and lifetime spent over the WPDN. Bartels and Maddox's (1991) climatological study of MCVs for 1981 - 1988 estimated that less than 5% of MCSs exhibit a vortex whose clouds persist long enough after the dissipation of the MCSs high-level obscuring cirrus cloud to become apparent in visible satellite imagery. This low estimate of MCVs in MCSs leads to the question of how many MCSs produce MCVs. Some researchers state that the MCV is an inherent part of the MCC circulation (Velasco and Fritsch, 1987; Menard and Fritsch, 1989).Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'Mid-Level Vorticity in Mesoscale Convective Systems', published 1996 under ISBN 9781423579793 and ISBN 1423579798.