Momentum flux by lines of cumulonimbus over the tropical oceans.

Examination of aircraft and rawinsonde data gathered in nine tropical mesoscale convective line cases indicates that all but two lines systematically increased front-to-rear momentum at heights greater than about 4 km, and rear-to-front momentum at lower levels, where 'front' is defined as the direction toward which the line is moving. The convective lines were characterized by a leading 10-20 km wide band of convective clouds, and a trailing region of stratiform cloudiness. Most were 'propagating' lines, moving into the wind at all levels. -from Authors