IT IS A COMBINED TYPE 2 AND TYPE 3 PROPOSAL TO SERVE AS ONE OF THE TEAM LEADERS IN THE FIELD BOTH IN FLIGHT PLANNING AT THE OPERATIONS CENTER AND AS NEEDED ABOARD THE NASA DC-8 AS AIRBORNE SCIENTIST HELPING TO DIRECT THE MISSION IN REAL TIME. IT IS PROPOSED TO USE THE NASA DC-8 AIRCRAFT VIA A TIGHTLY FOCUSED OBSERVING PLAN TO USE THE DAWN WIND LIDAR THE APR-2 DUALFREQUENCY DOPPLER RADAR AND WIND-FINDING DROPSONDES TO TARGET SPECIFIC SHORTCOMINGS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUDS ARE INITIATED OVER TROPICAL OCEANS IN GIVEN THERMODYNAMIC AND WIND SHEAR ENVIRONMENTS AND WHAT DETERMINES WHICH ONES WILL BECOME ORGANIZED AND GROW INTO LARGE MESOSCALE SYSTEMS WHILE MOST OTHERS REMAIN ISOLATED. THE PROPOSAL IS RELEVANT TO THE NASA WEATHER FOCUS AREA BECAUSE THIS UPSCALE GROWTH OF CONVECTION IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SO MANY EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS AND ALSO BECAUSE WIND LIDAR AND DOPPLER RADAR ARE EXAMPLES OF REMOTE SENSING THAT HAVE POTENTIAL FOR FUTURE SATELLITE MISSIONS. THE PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVES ARE (1) TO DETERMINE THE WIND PROFILES AND THERMODYNAMIC PROFILES THAT ARE MOST OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE UPSCALE GROWTH AND ORGANIZATION OF CONVECTION AND (2) TO OBSERVE THE PROPERTIES OF CONVECTIVE DOWNDRAFTS THAT OFTEN CREATE AND CONTRIBUTE TO COLD POOLS THEIR TEMPERATURE DEFICIT DEPTH EXTENT AND ROLE IN CONVECTIVE ORGANIZATION AND UPSCALE GROWTH AND (3) TO MAKE AN INDEPENDENT EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF THE WIND LIDAR IN A VARIETY OF SITUATIONS. THE PI HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN NASA FIELD CAMPAIGNS OVER TROPICAL OCEANS INCLUDING ACTING AS DC-8 AIRBORNE SCIENTIST AND PROPOSES TO WORK TOGETHER WITH SEVERAL OTHER TEAM MEMBERS TO OPTIMIZE THE FLIGHT PLANNING AND REAL-TIME DECISION-MAKING TOWARD OBTAINING THE MOST VALUABLE DATASET POSSIBLE GIVEN THE LIMITED TIME AND RESOURCES. THIS REQUIRES CLOSE ATTENTION TO A SUITE OF ADVANCED FORECASTING MODEL OUTPUT TOGETHER WITH HIGH QUALITY SATELLITE DATA TO MEET THE DIFFICULT CHALLENGE OF BEING IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DATA ANALYSIS TASKS IS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE BEST OBSERVED CASES OF DEEP CONVECTION PRODUCING COLD POOLS WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE MOST IMPORTANT LINK BETWEEN THE CONVECTIVE SCALE AND THE LARGER SCALE IN ENCOURAGING THE GROWTH OF CONVECTION INTO LARGE MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS. THE DATA FROM THE WIND LIDAR (DETAILED PROFILES IN THE ENVIRONMENT OF CONVECTION) DOPPLER RADAR (ESTIMATES OF CONVECTIVE CORE DIMENSIONS AND VERTICAL VELOCITY OF BOTH UPDRAFTS AND DOWNDRAFTS) AND DROPSONDES (THERMODYNAMIC AND WIND DATA IN CLOUD AND PRECIPITATION WHERE LIDAR IS INEFFECTIVE) ARE ALL ESSENTIAL FOR THIS TASK. CLOSE COORDINATION WITH ALL MEMBERS OF THE SCIENCE TEAM IS ESSENTIAL. COLLABORATORS KAVAYA (LIDAR) TANELLI (RADAR) CHEN (COMPARISON OF SIMULATIONS TO OBSERVATIONS) WILL BE IMPORTANT BOTH IN THE FIELD AND DURING ALL PHASES OF THE ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH STAGES. THE PI PROPOSES TO BE ONE OF THE TEAM LEADERS DURING THE FIELD CAMPAIGN IN COLLABORATION WITH DR. SHUYI CHEN. BOTH DR. CHEN AND THE PI HAVE EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN TROPICAL FIELD CAMPAIGNS IN DESIGNING AIRCRAFT OBSERVING STRATEGY AND IN REAL-TIME DIRECTION OF AIRCRAFT MISSIONS FROM THE GROUND AND IN THE AIR.