Statistics of cold cumulonimbus anvils based on enhanced infrared photographs

Infrared photographs from the Atlantic Geosynchronous Satellite, enhanced to resolve cold anvil temperatures of tropical clouds, are analyzed statistically to determine their spatial‐temporal variability during the NASA‐U2 Flight Experiment of 1980. Diurnal dependence varies regionally, indicating topographic control via low level convergence and release of convective instability. Anvil growth rates, area covered and duration are discussed for individual and merging anvil systems. Gradients of anvil temperatures implied by infrared photographs are shown to be caused, in part, by radial decrease in anvil depth, i.e., to emissivities less than 1. An error in cloud top temperature of 10C is caused by 10% reduction in emissivity. Errors are near zero in dense, actively growing portions of the anvil.