Abstract. The convective lifecycle, from initiation to maturity and dissipation, is driven by a combination of kinematic, thermodynamic, microphysical, and radiative processes that are strongly coupled and variable in time and space. Weather radars have been traditionally used to provide various convective-cloud characteristics. Here, we analyzed climatological convective-cell radar characteristics to obtain and assess the diurnal cycles of three convective-cell types – shallow, modest deep, and vigorous deep convective cells – that formed in the greater Houston area, using the National Weather Service radar from Houston, Texas, and a multi-cell identification and tracking algorithm. The examined dataset spans 4 years (2018–2021) and covers the warm-season months (June to September) in those years. The analysis showed clear diurnal cycles in cell initiation (CI) consistent with the sea breeze circulation and showed diurnal and normalized lifetime relationships in cell evolution parameters (e.g., maximum reflectivity, echo-top height, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16 (GOES-16) channel 13 brightness temperature, and the height of maximum reflectivity). The cell evolution is well represented by relationships between (1) the height and value of the maximum radar reflectivity, (2) the minimum GOES-16 channel 13 brightness temperature and the maximum vertically integrated liquid, (3) the maximum reflectivity and columnar-average reflectivity, and (4) the echo-top ascent rate and cell lifetime. The relationships presented herein help to identify the cell lifecycle stages such as early shallow convection, vigorous vertical development, anvil development, and convective core dissipation. GOES-16 Aerosol Optical Depth values are also used as a proxy for cell initiation aerosol concentrations to investigate any potential relationships between initiation location and aerosol concentration. Overall, no significant relationships between initiation location and aerosol concentration were found for the three cell types investigated, but there are some minor differences in the pre-CI aerosol optical depth for vigorous deep convective cells.

中文翻译：

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使用细胞跟踪方法研究德克萨斯州大休斯顿地区的浅层和深层对流特征

摘要。对流生命周期，从起始到成熟和消散，是由运动学、热力学、微物理和辐射过程的组合驱动的，这些过程在时间和空间上是强耦合和可变的。气象雷达传统上用于提供各种对流云特征。在这里，我们分析了气候对流单元雷达特征，以获取和评估在大休斯顿地区形成的三种对流单元类型（浅层对流单元、中深对流单元和强烈深对流单元）的昼夜周期，使用国家气象局雷达德克萨斯州休斯顿，以及多小区识别和跟踪算法。检查的数据集跨度 4 年（2018 年至 2021 年），涵盖这些年的暖季月份（6 月至 9 月）。分析显示细胞起始（CI）的清晰昼夜周期与海风循环一致，并显示细胞演化参数（例如最大反射率、回波顶高度、地球静止运行环境卫星 16 (GOES-16) 的昼夜和标准化寿命关系） ）通道13亮度温度，以及最大反射率的高度）。单元的演变可以通过以下关系很好地表示：(1) 最大雷达反射率的高度和值，(2) 最小 GOES-16 通道 13 亮度温度和最大垂直积分液体，(3) 最大反射率和柱状-平均反射率，以及 (4) 回波顶上升率和电池寿命。本文提出的关系有助于识别细胞生命周期阶段，例如早期浅对流、剧烈垂直发展、砧发展和对流核心耗散。 GOES-16 气溶胶光学深度值也用作细胞引发气溶胶浓度的代理，以研究引发位置和气溶胶浓度之间的任何潜在关系。总体而言，对于所研究的三种细胞类型，未发现起始位置和气溶胶浓度之间存在显着关系，但对于活跃的深对流细胞，CI 前气溶胶光学深度存在一些细微差异。