Observational boundary layer energy and water budgets of the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition

The authors estimate summer mean boundary layer water and energy budgets along a northeast Pacific transect from 35° to 15°N, which includes the transition from marine stratocumulus to trade cumulus clouds. Observational data is used from three A-Train satellites, Aqua, CloudSat, and the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO); data derived from GPS signals intercepted by microsatellites of the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC); and the container-ship-based Marine Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment Cloud System Study/Working Group on Numerical Experimentation (GCSS/WGNE) Pacific Cross-Section Intercomparison (GPCI) Investigation of Clouds (MAGIC) campaign. These are unique satellite and shipborne observations providing the first global-scale observations of light precipitation, new vertically resolved radiation budget products derived from the active sensors, and well-sampled radiosonde data near the transect. In addition to the observations, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) fields are utilized to estimate the budgets. Both budgets approach within 3Wm-2 averaged along the transect, although uncertainty estimates from the study are much larger than this residual. A mean entrainment rate along the transect of 3:4+1.2-1.1 mm s-1 is also estimated. A gradual transition is observed in the climatological mean from the stratocumulus regime to the cumulus regime characterized by an increase in boundary layer height, latent heat flux, rain, and the horizontal advection of dry air and a decrease in entrainment of warm dry air.

Duke Scholars

Author Peter Kalmus Earth and Climate Sciences