Abstract:Based on the high-resolution data provided by FY-2F geostationary meteorological satellite from May to September in 2015, the cloud-top physical characteristics, including the height of cloud top, cloud top cooling rate (CTC), multi-channels differences, etc, were analyzed and compared from the stage of convective initiation (CI) to the development phase in deep and shallow convections which were identified by the temperature threshold method. The results indicate that the cloud-top physical characteristics in the stage of CI in deep and shallow convections have the similar trend that the height of cloud top ascends rapidly in a short time and CTC values decrease first and increase subsequently. The differences between deep and shallow convections are as follows. The ascending height of deep convection cloud top can exceed that of vapor layer, and vice versa. The CTC values of deep convection show even lower compared with that of shallow convection. Based on the differences of minimum CTC in the stage of CI in deep and shallow convections, the verified case demonstrates that using the differences of minimum CTC is capable of judging whether CI could develop into deep convection on the basis of identified CI, and then early war-ning could be worked out.