Experimental and theoretical investigations of marine stratocumulus cloud sensitivity to climate parameters using ship-trail clouds

The formation and radiative properties of clouds are poorly parameterized in numerical climate models, especially marine boundary layer clouds. Twomey (1991), after describing the importance of cloud microphysics to the climate problem, states Clearly, many more field measurements and laboratory experiments are called for, rather than endless repetitions of computer simulations that are closely related to each other and parameterize in very similar ways.'' The effort described here is a field experimental effort supported by the Department of Energy under its Quantitative Links'' program. The project is called Ship-Trail Evolution Above High Updraft Naval Targets (SEAHUNT). The purpose of this study is to improve our understanding of the meteorological context in which ship trails and other perturbations to marine boundary layer clouds occur. 8 refs., 6 figs.