Abstract
Vertical cloud overlap, the ratio of cloud fraction by area and by
volume, for cumulus clouds are studied using large-eddy simulations
(LES) due to the inefficient, wide-range values of cloud overlap. We can
obtain information about the cloud cover of a cloud field by inspecting
the individual clouds in that cloud field.We start with the
maximum-random assumption and adjust this assumption for individual
clouds.From this there is an under-prediction which leads to the
conclusion that something can be added.We extend this by considering
physical factors of cloud overlap: area variability, vertical wind
shear, and turbulence. We use numerical schemes to calculate the effect
of each contributor based on cloud height. We obtain great accuracy for
our model of cloud overlap. Since there are multiple factors of cloud
overlap, we look at the percentage of how much each contributes for a
given binned cloud height. Furthermore, we get acceptable agreement for
the calculated and actual total cloud cover. As such, we show that no
other major contributors for cloud overlap and cloud cover exist. We end
with an empirical model to describe the numerical schemes mentioned
previously.