GLOBAL-SCALE MODELS INCLUDING THOSE USED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF METEOROLOGICAL REANALYSES ARE TYPICALLY TOO COARSE TO RESOLVE CONVECTIVELY PRODUCED COLD POOLS. SIGNIFICANT ERRORS IN SPATIAL COVERAGE OF COLD POOLS AS WELL AS COLD POOL MAGNITUDES HAVE BEEN ROUTINELY IDENTIFIED. THIS CAN LEAD TO BIASES IN AIR-SEA TURBULENT LATENT AND SENSIBLE HEAT FLUXES PARTICULARLY IN CONVECTIVELY ACTIVE REGIONS SUCH AS THE MARITIME TROPICS. DESPITE THEIR LIMITATIONS IN RAIN SCATTEROMETERS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS THAT MEASURE OCEAN VECTOR WINDS HAVE NONETHELESS DEMONSTRATED AN ABILITY TO DETECT COLD POOLS AS WELL AS MEASURE THE STRENGTH OF THE WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THEM. THIS MEANS SUCH INSTRUMENTS MAY BE USED TO HELP DETERMINE THE DIURNAL INTRASEASONAL AND SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF TROPICAL COLD POOL CHARACTERISTICS. IN TURN THIS WILL ENABLE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ACCURACY OF CONVECTIVELY DRIVEN SURFACE PROCESSES IN MODEL OUTPUT SUCH AS THE HIGH-RESOLUTION GLOBAL MODELING AND ASSIMILATION OFFICE (GMAO) OPERATIONAL ANALYSES AND MODERN-ERA RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS FOR RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS VERSION 2 (MERRA-2). A KEY STEPPING STONE TO REACHING THIS SCIENCE GOAL IS TO UNDERSTAND HOW VECTOR WIND PRODUCT RESOLUTION INSTRUMENT TYPE (E.G. C- VS. KU-BAND RADAR) AS WELL AS THE PROXIMITY AND STRENGTH OF PRECIPITATION CAN AFFECT THE ACCURATE DEPICTION OF COLD POOLS NEAR TROPICAL MARITIME CONVECTION. THEREFORE THIS PROPOSAL WILL ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING KEY SCIENCE QUESTIONS: I. HOW DO VECTOR WIND INSTRUMENT-DETECTED COLD POOL CHARACTERISTICS VARY AS A FUNCTION OF PRODUCT RESOLUTION INSTRUMENT TYPE AND THE PRESENCE OF PRECIPITATION? II. HOW DO TROPICAL COLD POOLS VARY DIURNALLY INTRASEASONALLY AND SEASONALLY AND WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS VARIABILITY FOR ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF CONVECTIVELY DRIVEN SURFACE PROCESSES IN COARSE MODELS AND ANALYSES? THESE QUESTIONS WILL BE ADDRESSED THROUGH QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE VARIABILITY IN DETECTED COLD POOL CHARACTERISTICS (E.G. SIZE SHAPE FREQUENCY ETC.) AMONG A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT SENSORS (E.G. ADVANCED SCATTEROMETER OR ASCAT RAPIDSCAT ETC.) AS WELL AS DIFFERENT SPATIAL RESOLUTIONS (E.G. ASCAT 12.5-KM VS. 25-KM VS. CUSTOM ULTRA-HIGH RESOLUTION OR UHR PRODUCTS). COMPARISON OF THESE PRODUCTS WILL ALSO BE MADE TO IN SITU COLD POOL MEASUREMENTS MADE BY LONG-TERM BUOYS AND SHORT-TERM OCEANIC FIELD CAMPAIGNS. LESSONS LEARNED FROM THIS ANALYSIS WILL BE APPLIED TO STUDY COLD POOL CHARACTERISTICS AS FUNCTIONS OF THE DIURNAL CYCLE BOREAL SUMMER INTRASEASONAL OSCILLATION (BSISO) MADDEN-JULIAN OSCILLATION (MJO) AND SEASONAL CYCLE OF CONVECTION. EMPHASIS WILL BE PLACED ON REGIONS SUCH AS THE INDIAN OCEAN AND MARITIME CONTINENT THAT HAVE BEEN OR WILL BE SAMPLED BY PAST/FUTURE FIELD CAMPAIGNS (E.G. DYNAMICS OF THE MJO OR DYNAMO PROPAGATION OF INTRASEASONAL TROPICAL OSCILLATIONS OR PISTON CLOUD AND AEROSOL MONSOONAL PROCESSES-PHILIPPINES EXPERIMENT OR CAMP2EX). CONVECTION PRODUCING THESE COLD POOLS WILL BE CHARACTERIZED USING A MIXTURE OF GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT (GPM) DATA INCLUDING INTEGRATED MULTISATELLITE RETRIEVALS FOR GPM (IMERG) PRODUCTS AS WELL AS SURFACE RADARS WHERE AVAILABLE.