Steady-state large-eddy simulations of the stratocumulus to trade cumulus transition

We present results from a series of steady-state large-eddy simulations (LES) to study the stratocumulus to trade cumulus transition. To model the different stages of this Eulerian view of the transition, we assign a unique sea-surface temperature to each LES and run each simulation until it reaches a statistically steady state; the LES runs are identical in every other aspect. These idealized boundary-driven steady-state LES allow a simple parametric assessment of cloud-controlling factors by isolating initial conditions and lag effects inherent in the Lagrangian view of the transition. Analysis of the steady-state budgets show how cloud-controlling factors, such as the lower-tropospheric stability (LTS), are related to cloud fraction.