Characteristics of tropical clouds with strong updrafts revealed by Doppler-velocity measurements from EarthCARE/CPR

Abstract. Updrafts within clouds are important for the climate system, yet global assessments have traditionally relied on indirect proxies. The EarthCARE satellite's 94 GHz Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) provides the first global, spaceborne Doppler velocity (Vd) profiles of clouds, enabling direct constraints on convective updraft intensity beyond proxy-based diagnostics. We analyze CPR cloud-property products over the tropics and extract convectively driven columns. We define MaxVd as the maximum upward Vd within the subfreezing portion of each column. Columns with MaxVd > 2.5 m s⁻¹ are classified as strong-updraft (SU) columns. They exhibit systematically higher echo-top heights at 0 and 10 dBZ than weaker-updraft columns, linking microphysics to dynamics. The probability of SU occurrence strongly depends on the separation between the cloud top and the 0 dBZ echo top, defined as ΔH. A small ΔH robustly identifies SU, including relatively low-topped systems. Spatiotemporally, SU occurrence is enhanced over land, with notably higher values at the 14:00 local-time overpass than at 02:00. In contrast, oceanic regions have a smaller SU fraction and exhibit a weaker difference between the two overpass times. These SU enhancements primarily reflect a shift toward horizontally compact, small-ΔH systems rather than higher cloud tops alone. Doppler folding preferentially occurs in small-ΔH structures, with maxima during the continental afternoon, providing a qualitative tracer of extreme updrafts. The combined constraints from Doppler-derived updraft intensity and echo structure offer a process-oriented benchmark for evaluating the coupling between convective dynamics and microphysics in numerical models.