Abrupt cloud clearing of marine stratocumulus in the subtropical southeast Atlantic

Yuter, Sandra E.; Hader, John D.; Miller, Matthew A.; Mechem, David B.

doi:10.1126/science.aar5836

Title: Abrupt cloud clearing of marine stratocumulus in the subtropical southeast Atlantic

Journal Article · Thu Jul 19 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar5836· OSTI ID:1541696

;

; Miller, Matthew A.;

We document rapid and abrupt clearings of large portions of the subtropical marine low cloud deck that have implications for the global radiation balance and climate sensitivity. Over the southeast Atlantic, large areas of stratocumulus are quickly eroded, yielding partial or complete clearing along sharp transitions hundreds to thousands of kilometers in length that move westward at 8 to 12 meters per second and travel as far as 1000+ kilometers from the African coast. The westward-moving cloudiness reductions have an annual peak in occurrence in the period from April through June. The cloud erosion boundaries reduce cloud at ≈10-kilometer scale in less than 15 minutes, move approximately perpendicular to the mean flow, and are often accompanied by small-scale wave features. Observations suggest that the cloud erosion is caused by atmospheric gravity waves.

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Research Organization:: North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States); Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

DOE Contract Number:: SC0006701; SC0006736; SC0016522

OSTI ID:: 1541696

Journal Information:: Science, Vol. 361, Issue 6403; ISSN 0036-8075

Publisher:: AAAS

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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