Relationship Between Precipitation Extremes and Convective Organization Inferred From Satellite Observations

Convective organization has the potential to impact the strength of precipitation extremes, but numerical models disagree about this influence. This study uses satellite observations to investigate the link between the mesoscale organization of deep convection and precipitation extremes in the Tropics. Extremes in domain-averaged precipitation are found mostly over the western Pacific and Indian Ocean warm pools, and they primarily depend on the number of deep convective entities within the domain. On the other hand, extremes in local precipitation are found primarily over land, and they increase with the degree of convective organization. Therefore, this observational study shows evidence for a modulation of the strength of tropical precipitation extremes by the spatial organization of deep convection, especially over land.