The relationship of marine stratus clouds to wind and temperature advection

Abstract

Statistical analysis of the 21 day FIRE period show that marine stratocumulus cloud cover over the eastern Pacific ocean was related to wind direction and temperature advection. Good correlations were found between the cloud cover fraction observed on satellite imagery and the NMC Global Spectral Model analyses of surface winds and temperature advection. This comparison was made in seven locations in the eastern Pacific. Regional differences were found between the area of FIRE operations several hundred kilometers west of San Diego and the other oceanic areas studied. -from Authors