Heat and Moisture Budget Analysis with an Improved Form of Moist Thermodynamics

Abstract

In order to understand the effects of cumulus convection on large-scale atmospheric motions, heat and moisture budget analyses are often performed using data from an array of radiosonde stations. Ever since the pioneering work of Yanai et al. (1973), such budgets have been based on approximate forms of moist thermodynamics. This paper presents an improved form of moist thermodynamics for such budget studies.