Sandra Yuter
North Carolina State University

"Abrupt cloud clearing of marine stratocumulus in the subtropical southeast Atlantic"

Abstract: Over the southeast Atlantic, rapid and dramatic clearings of large portions of the subtropical marine low cloud deck have implications for the global radiation balance and climate sensitivity. Large areas of stratocumulus are rapidly eroded yielding partial or complete clearing along sharp transitions 100s to 1000s of km in length that move westward at 8-12 m s-1 and travel as far as 1000+ km from the African coast. The westward-moving cloudiness reductions have an annual peak in occurrence in April-May-June. The cloud erosion boundaries reduce cloud at ≈10 km scale in less than 15 min, move approximately perpendicular to the mean flow, and are often accompanied by small-scale wave features. Observations suggest that the cloud erosion is caused by atmospheric gravity waves.

Biography: I am an expert in distilling information on weather and climate. My research team develops new capabilities from remote sensing data products to address basic and applied science questions. I have over 30 years of experience in data fusion and image analysis using multispectral satellite, radar, lidar and other meteorological observations. A key tenet of our work is “adequacy for purpose” matching sensor data set characteristics with appropriate science questions and vice versa. Current research activities focus on shallow marine clouds, winter storms, and developing education modules on radar-observed storm structures.