A team of meteorology researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Maryland under the leadership of Y.C. Sud salient facts,

• A sea-surface temperature of about 28°C seems to be required to produce cloud towers reaching the upper troposphere (200 mb level)
• The maximum sea-surface temperature seems to be 30° c.

The authors sought to tie together these two observations and explain them. They conclude that the deep convection induces downdrafts of cool, dry air that cools the ocean water and prevents the temperature from rising above 30°C.

(To be continued.)