Matthew's Journal

The satellite image below is from this morning. The position of the Ronald Brown at the time this image was captured in denoted by the green cross. As you can see by my labels, open-cell and closed-cell stratocumulus are clearly visible. These clouds are part of what VOCALS aims to study.

Some of you are probably asking, "What's the difference between the open-cell and closed-cell sratocumulus clouds?" If you think about stratocumulus clouds forming like a honeycomb (which they do), the open cells are the ones where the cloud is around the outside of the honeycomb cell with an open middle. The closed cells are the ones where the cloud is in the middle of the honeycomb cell with clear areas on the periphery. The circulations of air inside of these cells are opposite of each other. For closed cells, the air rises in the middle and sinks around the edges. For open cells, the air rises around the edges and sinks in the middle.

Satellite imagery of the vicinity of the Ron Brown in the Southeast Pacific.