Case: 01 March 2016

Summary

Widespread stratocumulus clouds under southerly boundary layer flows

Description

Extensive shield of closed cell stratocumulus conditions associated with southerly boundary layer flow that shifted south-easterly during this event. Upper level clouds (between approx. 10-12 km AGL) were observed during the first half of the event over the northern and western parts of the larger Azores region (as also sampled by KAZR over the ENA site). These upper-level clouds typically remained >100 km north of the main ENA site after midday. Multi-sensor ARM measurements suggested episodic subcloud drizzle by the later stages of the event. Inversion height at approximately 1.0 AGL.

Available assets

Standard ARM profiling assets, SEVIRI, RLPROF-FEX

Critical period: 10:00–15:00

Extended deck having radar signatures of drizzle over the main ENA site

True color MODIS AQUA — Figure 4 True color afternoon MODIS AQUA image with overlaid LES domains. The image area corresponds to the 5° region sampled for the larger forcing option. The yellow and orange boxes correspond to the sizes of the 25 km and 102 km LES domains, respectively.