Relationships between large-scale heat and moisture budgets and the occurrence of Arctic stratus clouds.

Abstract

The occurrence of cloudiness over the Beaufort Sea region of the Arctic Basin during June 1980, is related to the ambient large- scale meteorological conditions. Cloud data are obtained from a hand analysis of the visible and infrared Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) images and from the US Air Force Three-Dimensional Nephanalysis (3DNEPH). A comparison of the two cloud cover datasets showed good agreement for mid- and high-level cloudiness, but low-level cloudiness was significantly underestimated by the 3DNEPH.-from Authors