The daytime evolution of warm cloud microphysical properties over the southeast Pacific during October–November 2008 is investigated with optical/infrared retrievals from the Tenth Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-10) imager. GOES-10 retrievals, produced at NASA Langley Research Center, are validated against in situ aircraft observations and with independent satellite observations. Comparisons...
The diurnal cycles in cloud-top height H[subscript top] and cloud fraction (CF) in the southeastern Pacific stratocumulus region were determined for October-November 2008 by analyzing data from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-10 (GOES-10) according to a diurnal/semidiurnal harmonic fitting technique. The value of H[subscript top] was obtained by applying a formula...
A depth-dependent boundary layer lapse rate was empirically deduced from 156 radiosondes released during six month-long research cruises to the southeast Pacific sampling a variety of stratocumulus conditions. The lapse-rate dependence on boundary layer height is weak, decreasing from a best fit of 7.6 to 7.2 K km⁻¹ as the...