Influencia de las nubes en el sistema climático: Modelización de Estratocúmulos sobre el Océano Atlántico.

Abstract

Persistent and wide stratocumulus decks are frequently found over many oceanic areas, and particularly on the Atlantic trade wind region. Due to their important influence on radiative processes, their better knowledge and description becomes a crucial point for a correct description of the atmospheric surface radiative budget over these areas on climatic scales. High resolution models, as LES (Large Eddy simulation), is a basic tool to improve the understanding of these processes, being a first step to generate better parameterizations that General Circulation Models (GCM), due to its lower spatial resolution, need to use to represent these clouds. Based on measurements from ASTEX campaign, carried out on the Atlantic Ocean, we present LES results of a stationary stratocumulus layer, with a detailed description of their main physical processes and characteristics.