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While most
stratus-topped PBL research emphasized
the cloud structure and dynamics under a prescribed overlying free
atmosphere, Siems et al. [1993] focused on the interaction between
clouds and the overlying air.
They coupled a mixed-layer model (which describes the PBL) with an
overlying free-atmosphere model (which predicts the
change of the overlying free atmospheric temperature due to
radiation and large-scale
subsidence) to examine the consequence of allowing
the overlying free-atmosphere air to be modified
radiatively in the presence of an underlying cloud deck.
Hanson [1991] used the FIRE data to show
that the amount of water vapor above the inversion,
which would eventually entrain into the cloud layer, is
important in determining the amount of solar reflection
(i.e., cloud albedo).
U.S. National Report to IUGG, 1991-1994
Rev. Geophys. Vol. 33
Suppl., © 1995 American Geophysical Union