Strong Convective Cloud Characteristics Derived from Satellite Cloud Picture

In order to get the strong convective cloud characteristics exhibiting in satellite images, about 20000 hourly gauge data of 333 surface rainfall stations and corresponding 4000 IR digital cloud images of GMS-4 during the period of 1992~1994 in Henan, Hubei and Sichuan Provincess were analyzed. The results show that the cloud top temperature, the temperature gradients, the expansion of a convective cloud cluster, the occurrence of overshooting tops and the normalized distance from a cloud-covered area to the cluster center have correspondent relations to the cloud precipitation. These relations could vary with different geographical regions.