A FIELD EXPERIMENT TO STUDY CONVECTIVE PROCESSES (CPEX) IN THE TROPICS IS PLANNED FOR JUNE JULY 2017 IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN BASED AT SAINT CROIX U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS. NASA WILL PROVIDE THE DC-8 AIRCRAFT A COHERENT DOPPLER WIND LIDAR (DAWN) A DOPPLER PRECIPITATION RADAR AND DROPSONDES TO MEASURING ATMOSPHERIC VARIABLES AROUND CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS. THESE DATA WILL LEAD TO OUR IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING ON THE INITIATION ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TROPICAL CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS. WE PROPOSE TO CONDUCT DATA SYNERGY OF THE AIRCRAFT OBSERVED DATA WITH MULTIPLE SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS TO MAXIMIZE THE SCIENTIFIC IMPACT OF THE AIRBORNE WIND LIDAR DATA. WHILE THE AIRBORNE WIND LIDAR AND PRECIPITATION RADAR MEASURE WIND AND HYDROMETEOR VERTICAL PROFILES ALONG FLIGHT LEGS THE SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS PROVIDE COMPLEMENTARY DATA OF ADDITIONAL PHYSICAL QUANTITIES SUCH AS SURFACE WIND WATER VAPOR AEROSOL CLOUD AND PRECIPITATION WITH A BROADER AREAL COVERAGE AND AT TIMES WHEN THE AIRCRAFT IS NOT FLYING. IN ADDITION THE BROADER AREA AND LONGER TIME COVERAGE OF SATELLITE DATA HELP PUT THE AIRCRAFT-COLLECTED DATA UNDER THE CONTEXT OF THE LARGE-SCALE ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT. DATA FROM A SUITE OF SATELLITES (E.G. AQUA TERRA CLOUDSAT CALIPSO GPM CYGNSS SNPP DMSP METOP-A/B OCEANSAT-2 ETC.) WILL BE AVAILABLE DURING THE CPEX FIELD EXPERIMENT TO PROVIDE RETRIEVALS OF ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE AND AEROSOL CLOUD AND RAIN AND SURFACE WIND. IT IS PARTICULARLY WORTH MENTIONING THAT THE PLANNED CYGNSS MISSION WILL PROVIDE ALL-WEATHER SURFACE WIND SPEED AT ABOUT 4-HOUR TIME INTERVAL; COMBINING ITS DATA WITH WIND LIDAR PROVIDES A COMPLETE WIND PROFILE FROM SURFACE TO AIRCRAFT FLIGHT LEVEL. THESE SATELLITE DATA WILL BE FIRST ASSEMBLED TO BE COINCIDENT IN TIME WITH THE AIRBORNE WIND LIDAR OBSERVATIONS BUT WITH A GREATER AREAL COVERAGE TO PROVIDE THE LARGE-SCALE ENVIRONMENT OF THE AIRBORNE OBSERVATIONS. SATELLITE DATA BETWEEN AIRCRAFT FLIGHTS WILL ALSO BE REGULARLY ASSEMBLED SO THAT THE STORM S EVOLUTION DURING ITS LIFE CYCLE WILL BE MONITORED EVEN WHEN THE AIRCRAFT IS NOT FLYING. THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THE SATELLITES/AIRCRAFT DATA SYNERGY IS TO PROVIDE VALUE-ADDED DATASET TO THE SCIENCE TEAM SO THAT THE WHOLE TEAM WILL BENEFIT FROM COINCIDENT SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS IN AT LEAST THE FOLLOWING AREAS: 1. DETERMINE THE LARGE-SCALE ENVIRONMENT UNDER WHICH THE TARGETED CONVECTIVE SYSTEM IS DEVELOPING. SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS PROVIDE DATA OVER A BROAD AREA EVERY SEVERAL HOURS WHICH WILL BE USED TO IDENTIFY AT WHAT DEVELOPMENT STAGE OF THE STORM AND UNDER WHAT AEROSOL/ATMOSPHERIC/CLOUD CONDITION THE AIRCRAFT OBSERVATIONS ARE CARRIED OUT. 2. FILL IN DATA GAPS SPATIALLY AND TEMPORALLY. CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS ARE OFTEN SPATIALLY BROAD SOMETIMES UP TO SEVERAL THOUSANDS OF KM; BUT AIRCRAFT FLIGHTS CAN ONLY TARGET LIMITED AREAS OF THE SYSTEMS. THEREFORE THERE IS A NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING WHEN AND WHERE AIRCRAFT MEASUREMENTS ARE NOT AVAILABLE. 3. UNDERSTAND THE RELATION BETWEEN THE WIND FIELD (CONVERGENCE AND SHEAR) AND MICROPHYSICAL ASPECTS OF THE STORMS. BY SUPPLEMENTING SATELLITE DATA OVER THE ENTIRE STORM WE WILL BE ABLE TO STUDY THE RELATION BETWEEN THE WIND FIELD AND THE MICROPHYSICAL ASPECT OF THE STORM DEVELOPMENT. 4. RELATE LARGE-SCALE AEROSOL/DUST TRANSPORT TO STORM DEVELOPMENT. RECENT STUDIES HAVE SUGGESTED THAT DUSTS CARRIED BY SAHARA AIR LAYER PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN IMPACTING TROPICAL STORMS DEVELOPMENT. USING THE SATELLITE MEASURED DUST DISTRIBUTION AND WIND FIELD IN THE SYNERGIZED DATASET THE POSSIBLE RELATION BETWEEN DUST TRANSPORT AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF TROPICAL CONVECTIONS WILL BE STUDIED.