An Investigation on the Spatial Dependence of Autoconversion and Accretion in Eastern North Atlantic Boundary Layer Clouds (Final Report)

• Main Author: Marchand, Roger
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: 58 GEOSCIENCES; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1845006; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1845006; https://doi.org/10.2172/1845006

In many climate models, small clouds over the ocean rain too often and too lightly. This affects the amount of water in the clouds and ultimately the area covered by clouds both of which must be predicted by climate models. This in turn impacts how much sunlight these clouds can reflect to space and ultimately has a significant impact on the Earth radiation balance and climate. The purpose of this project was to use cloud and precipitation data being collected by DOE to evaluate the spatial variability of boundary layer clouds and precipitation, and the relationships between them with a view towards improving the representation of the physics that control the generation of precipitation in models.