Stratocumulus Clouds

Abstract This paper reviews the current knowledge of the climatological, structural, and organizational aspects of stratocumulus clouds and the physical processes controlling them. More of Earth’s surface is covered by stratocumulus clouds than by any other cloud type making them extremely important for Earth’s energy balance, primarily through their reflection of solar radiation. They are generally thin clouds, typically occupying the upper few hundred meters of the planetary boundary layer (PBL), and they preferably occur in shallow PBLs that are readily coupled by turbulent mixing to the surface moisture supply. Thus, stratocumuli favor conditions of strong lower-tropospheric stability, large-scale…