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 Maddoxs 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.