A common feature of many convective storms is growth by cloud and cell unions. Although convective cloud evolution has been the subject of a number of empirical and numerical studies, documentation of the manner in which mergers take place and their role in storm development is limited. The objective of this research is the evolution of convective storms. Specifically, (1) to identify the ways in which clouds and cells join and the dependence of the mode of merger on the stages, horizontal proximity and relative motion of the cloud (cell) pair, and (2) to ascertain the effect of the type of merger on subsequent cloud (cell) morphology and history. Existing reflectivity data from 10-cm radars will be used. Objective and interactive computer techniques will be employed in many phases of the study. The results will provide detailed descriptions of this important phenomenon from which hypotheses may be developed for numerical and observational experiments. It will also be valuable for improvement of techniques for short range prediction of convective storms based on real-time radar information, which will soon be available in the national network.
