We introduce a new type of cloud class, which we call “active cloud regime” (ACR), owing to its provenance from active (lidar and cloud radar) spaceborne cloud observations. The ACR flavor of this work describes prevalent monthly mixtures at ~400 km scales of previously introduced cloud vertical structures (CVS) inferred from instantaneous ~ 2 km observations. ACRs thus constitute a gridded cloud dataset generated from the vertically-resolved cloud mask available from the 2B-CLDCLASS-LIDAR CloudSat dataset fusing CALIPSO (lidar) and CloudSat (cloud radar) cloud detections. We show that the global classification of cloudiness under the ACR framework provides valuable insights on how the world’s cloud systems affect the two major components of atmospheric energetics, precipitation and radiative cooling. Using NASA’s GEOS model, we also demonstrate that it is possible to apply the ACR concept to Earth System Models that have the capability to produce subgrid cloudiness obeying pre-specified vertical overlap rules, providing thus another means to assess the realism of simulated clouds.