Impact of monsoon‐associated deep‐penetrating clouds on the hydration of the tropical upper troposphere

This paper examines the relationship between water vapor mixing ratio (WVMR) and cloud top height (CTH) in the tropical upper troposphere. The region of high WVMR and CTH is collocated and observed over the core convective region. WVMR over South Asia shows significant correlation with CTH. Increase in CTH is observed during the moist phase of water vapor followed by a decrease in CTH during the dry phase. Daily CTH data show that some convective turrets reach above 150hPa. Present analysis shows that moistening of upper troposphere occurs during the monsoon period when CTH is greater than 7km.