Riosalido, R. (Servicio de Tecnicas de Analisis y Prediccion, Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia, Madrid)
Carretero, O. (same affiliation)
Martin., F. (same affiliation)
Elizaga, F. (same affiliation)
During the fall season strong convection affects the Mediterranean coast of Spain and Baleares Island. These convective events use to produce very heavy rains and flash floods and, in many occasions, the convection is organized into Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS). These structures (MCS) have been systematically study during the last years using Meteosat infrared imagery.
The purpose of the study is to extract some of their climatological characteristics in order to contribute to the development of regional conceptual models of these structures that could be useful for forecasters in the very short range.
A database containing objective data from more than one hundred MCS have been constructed for the period 1989-1993 from the satellite imagery. A description of the parameters included in the database together with the methodology used is presented in this paper. Using this database, a first climatology of MCS in the western Mediterranean area is presented. This includes MCS general characteristics (size, duration, etc.) as well as geographical distribution and trajectories. Finally, an MCS life cycle conceptual model is proposed constructed as a composite of individual cases.