Cloud spatial structure during the FIRE MS IFO

Abstract

The fractal properties of clouds observed during the FIRE Marine Stratocumulus Intensive Field Observations (MS IFO) and their effects on the large scale radiative properties of the atmosphere are examined. This involves three states: (1) analysis of LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM) cloud data to determine the scaling properties associated with various cloud types; (2) simulation of fractal clouds with realistic scaling properties; and (3) computation of mean radiative properties of fractal clouds as a function of their scaling properties. Thirty-three LANDSAT scenes were acquired as part of the FIRE Marine Stratocumulus IFO in July 1987. They exhibit a wide variety of stratocumulus structures. Analysis has so far focused upon the July 7 scene, in which the NASA ER-2, the BMO C130 and the NCAR Electra repeatedly gathered data across a stratocumulus-fair weather cumulus transition.