A preliminary analysis of tropical anvil-cloud dynamics from EarthCARE

Abstract. The vertical motion in tropical anvil clouds is crucial for understanding their maintenance and evolution but is notoriously difficult to observe. This work explores the potential utility of EarthCARE in revealing previously unobserved aspects of anvil clouds using the radar-only (2A.CPR_CLP) and radar-lidar synergy (2B.AC_CLP) products. Composite vertical profiles of cloud fraction sorted by ice water path (IWP) are found to represent a smooth transition from deep convection to anvil and thin cirrus clouds. In-cloud vertical air motion as estimated from Doppler measurements reveals that intense updraft penetrating within deep convection gives way to a weaker ascent in anvil clouds. The CPR-only product slightly underestimates the ascent in anvil clouds relative to the CPR-ATLID product due to a difference in the particle size distribution, while the overall spatial pattern of vertical air motion remains consistent. Diagnostic horizontal wind is then derived from the vertical motion estimates under mass conservation in composite vertical-horizontal space. The resulting wind vector field emerges as an overturning mesoscale circulation constituted of a mid-tropospheric inflow and an upper-tropospheric outflow. The present findings, although preliminary, confirm the promising potential of EarthCARE observations for investigating the anvil cloud dynamics.