moistconvection

EUROCS FIRE-I strato cumulus diurnal cycle intercomparison.

Aug. 2002, Madrid, Spain.

Based on observations made in stratocumulus off the coast of California during FIRE I.

Landsat satellite image (horizontal area about 200 × 400km2) showing
stratocumulus off the coast of California for 14 July 1987. The cloud tops are
at about 500 ∼ 1000 m whereas the convective cells have a horizontal dimension
of about 10 km. The stratocumulus case studied in this paper is based on
observations performed during FIRE I in the cloud deck
shown.

Observational work published in Hignett 1991

LES and SCM setup described in Duynkerke et al., 2004

Characteristics:

over ocean
distinct diurnal variation in the cloud liquid-water path and the turbulence profiles
decoupled boundary layer during daytime
vertically well-mixed boundary layer during the night