Case: 08 March 2016

Summary

Widespread stratocumulus clouds under southerly boundary layer flows

Description

This event featured an asymmetric cloud deck. Upper level clouds were observed from SEVIRI, but these clouds remained north of the main Azores domain and not observed by ARM profiling measurements. The stratocumulus deck was persistent over the ENA main site and associated with precipitation throughout the event. The deck eroded to the south and west of the islands as the event progressed. The heaviest drizzle was observed around midday, with the potential that light rain reached the surface at these times. Inversion height at approximately 1.3 km AGL.

Available assets

Standard ARM profiling assets, SEVIRI, RLPROF-FEX, additional NPOESS validation radiosonde (14:00 UTC)

Critical period: 10:00–14:00

Stratocumulus with signatures of precipitation reaching the surface

True color MODIS AQUA — Figure 5 True color afternoon MODIS AQUA image with overlaid LES domains. The image domain corresponds to the size of the model forcing domain.