Role of Low Clouds in Summertime Atmosphere–Ocean Interactions over the North Pacific

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Abstract
The summer-to-summer variability of the areal extent of marine stratiform cloudiness (MSC; stratus, stratocumulus, and fog) over the North Pacific is examined for the period of record 1952–92 using a dataset based on surface observations. Variability is largest in two regions: the central and western Pacific along 35°N coincident with a strong meridional gradient in climatological MSC amount, and the eastern Pacific near 15°N downstream of the persistent stratocumulus deck off Baja California. The MSC amount in both regions tends to be negatively correlated with local sea surface temperature (SST), suggestive of a positive cloud feedback on SST. The MSC amounts in the two regions also tend to be negatively correlated by virtue of their relationship to the basin-wide sea level pressure (SLP) field: a strengthening of the seasonal mean subtropical anticyclone is accompanied by increased cloudiness in the trade wind regime and decreased cloudiness in the southerly flow farther toward the west. These... Abstract The summer-to-summer variability of the areal extent of marine stratiform cloudiness (MSC; stratus, stratocumulus, and fog) over the North Pacific is examined for the period of record 1952–92 using a dataset based on surface observations. Variability is largest in two regions: the central and western Pacific along 35°N coincident with a strong meridional gradient in climatological MSC amount, and the eastern Pacific near 15°N downstream of the persistent stratocumulus deck off Baja California. The MSC amount in both regions tends to be negatively correlated with local sea surface temperature (SST), suggestive of a positive cloud feedback on SST. The MSC amounts in the two regions also tend to be negatively correlated by virtue of their relationship to the basin-wide sea level pressure (SLP) field: a strengthening of the seasonal mean subtropical anticyclone is accompanied by increased cloudiness in the trade wind regime and decreased cloudiness in the southerly flow farther toward the west. These...

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