THE GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE OF ENTRAINING CONVECTION AND CONVECTIVE PARAMETERIZATIONS BY INVESTIGATING TWO IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIPS ENTRAINMENT-CORE RELATION AND CORE-ANVIL RELATION AND TO GUIDE CLIMATE MODELS TO IMPROVE THEIR PARAMETERIZATIONS OF CUMULUS CONVECTION. IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL WE ADDRESS THREE OBJECTIVES: (I) INVESTIGATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENTRAINMENT RATE AND CONVECTIVE CORE STRENGTH/SIZE (ENTRAINMENT-CORE RELATION) (II) INVESTIGATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHARACTERISTICS OF CONVECTIVE CORE AND CIRRUS ANVILS (CORE-ANVIL RELATION) AND (III) EVALUATE THE REPRESENTATIONS OF CONVECTIVE CLOUD PROPERTIES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS IN MODELS INCLUDING BOTH A CLOUD-RESOLVING MODEL (CRM) AND MULTIPLE GCMS. THE ENTRAINMENT-CORE RELATION THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENTRAINMENT RATE AND CONVECTIVE CORE STRENGTH/SIZE HAS ASSUMED TO BE A NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP SINCE 1960S. THE EXPLANATION IS THAT LARGER CONVECTIVE CORES ARE BETTER PROTECTED FROM THE ENVIRONMENT AND THUS ARE LESS DILUTED BY ENTRAINMENT (I.E. SMALLER ENTRAINMENT RATE). HOWEVER DETAILS CONCERNING THIS RELATION AND OTHER IMPORTANT PROPERTIES OF ENTRAINING CONVECTION WERE NEVER SYSTEMATICALLY EXPLORED WITH GLOBAL SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS. INDEED CONVECTIVE ENTRAINMENT HAS BEEN POORLY REPRESENTED IN EXISTING CONVECTIVE PARAMETERIZATIONS WHICH MAKES HARD TO REALISTICALLY SIMULATE DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUDS. THE LATTER IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHARACTERISTICS OF CONVECTIVE CORE AND CIRRUS ANVILS (COREANVIL RELATION) WHICH PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN CONTROLLING THE ENERGY BUDGETS AND VARIOUS FORMS OF RADIATIVE-CONVECTIVE FEEDBACKS. THERE EXIST DIFFERENT HYPOTHESES CONCERNING UPPER TROPOSPHERIC (UT) CLOUD FEEDBACKS TO A WARMER CLIMATE AND WHILE THE SPREAD AMONG CLIMATE MODELS ABOUT THE NET FEEDBACK IS SIMILAR FOR UT CLOUDS AND LOW-LEVEL CLOUDS THE SPREADS IN LONGWAVE AND SHORT-WAVE FEEDBACKS ARE LARGER FOR UT CLOUDS. THIS IS DUE TO LARGE UNCERTAINTIES IN THE REPRESENTATION OF PROCESSES LINKED TO CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS AND THEIR DETRAINING ANVIL CIRRUS. TO IMPROVE THESE PARAMETERIZATIONS IT IS IMPORTANT TO REDUCE UNCERTAINTIES IN THE REPRESENTATION OF PROCESSES LINKED TO CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS AND THEIR DETRAINING ANVIL CIRRUS AND THEREFORE IT IS IMPORTANT TO EXPLORE CORE-ANVIL RELATION. DR. STORER WILL PERFORM MODELING ANALYSIS TASKS IN SUPPORT OF THE PROPOSAL. IN THIS PROPOSAL DR. STORER WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR RUNNING CLOUD RESOLVING MODEL SIMULATIONS USING THE REGIONAL ATMOSPHERIC MODELING SYSTEM (RAMS) AND ANALYZING OUTPUTS TO INVESTIGATE THE ENTRAINMENTCORE RELATION AND CORE-ANVIL RELATION. MODEL SIMULATIONS WILL BE COMPLETED OVER BOTH LAND AND OCEAN AND OVER A RANGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS SO AS TO CAPTURE A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF CONVECTIVE BEHAVIOR. ALL THE OUTPUTS FROM RAMS WILL BE RUN THROUGH A SIMPLE RADAR SIMULATOR SO COMPARABLE STATISTICS CAN BE CALCULATED TO THOSE BASED ON THE CLOUDSAT/A-TRAIN OBSERVATIONS. DR. STORER WILL 2 USE FINDINGS FROM THE CRM TO HELP AND EXPLAIN WHAT IS SEEN IN THE OBSERVATIONS AND TO HELP OFFER POTENTIAL SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE PARAMETERIZATIONS OF CUMULUS CONVECTION IN GCMS.