Some Views On “Hot Towers” after 50 Years of Tropical Field Programs and Two Years of TRMM Data

The “hot tower” hypothesis requires the existence of deep cumulonimbus clouds in the deep Tropics as essential agents, which accomplish the mass and energy transport essential for the maintenance of the general circulation. As the role of the deep convective clouds has been generally accepted, the popularity of referring to these deep “hot” towers as undilute towers also has gained acceptance. This paper examines the consequences of assuming that the deep convective clouds over tropical oceans consist of undilute ascent from the subcloud layer.