AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Jough-Tai Wang for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Atmospheric Sciences presented on November 21, 1986.

Abstract approved: Therrnodynamical and dynamical aspects of tropical cloud clusters are studied using data fran the GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE). The data set used in this study is a three-dimensional gridded set of upper-air analyses constructed by Ooyama and thu (Hurricane Research Division, Aa4L/NOAA and SSBC-University of Wisconsin) for wind data and Esbensen (Oregon State University) for thermodynamic data. The energy and manentum budgets are estimated on the scale of large cloud clusters. A strong upper-tropospheric heat source and middle-tropospheric drying are characteristic features of the mature stage of the observed cloud clusters. The heat source, moisture sink and the virtual heat flux for cloud clusters are larger than the corresponding quantities from GATE easterly-wave composites. The surface precipitation estimates produced frau the verticall