Small-Scale Processes and Entrainment in a Stratocumulus Marine Boundary Layer

Abstract

Numerical studies of boundary layer meteorology are increasingly reliant on large eddy simulation (LES) models, but few detailed validation studies of these types of models have been done. In this paper the authors investigate the behavior of an LES model for simulation of a marine boundary layer. Specifically, the authors focus on the mechanisms that control numerical predictions of entrainment into the tops of marine stratus in a moist generalization of the 1995 Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment Cloud System Studies model intercomparison.