EOL Seminar: The Influence of Precipitation During Stratocumulus to Cumulus Transition Over the North Pacific Ocean

Precipitation, a conspicuous feature of the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition in the northeast Pacific Ocean, is analyzed during Cloud System Evolution in the Trades (CSET) campaign using a 94 GHz Doppler radar, 532 nm lidar and in-situ instruments. An increasing precipitation along the Lagrangian parcel trajectories is co-associated with deepening boundary layer and faster cloud transition. Results from a simple one-dimensional evaporation model and from radar/lidar retrievals suggest that sub-cloud evaporation likely increases throughout the transition. This, coupled with larger drop sizes capable of lowering the latent cooling profile, facilitates the transition to more surface-driven convection, providing opportunities for modeling studies.