A persistent feature of the atmosphere over the eastern portions of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans is the existence of broad areas of stratocumulus convection. These stratocumulus regimes lie to the east of the large semi-permanent subtropical high pressure centers.

A one-layer bulk boundary layer model is developed following earlier work by Randall and Moeng. The model predicts the mixed layer values of the potential temperature, mixing ratio, and u- and v-momentum. The model also predicts the depth of the boundary layer and the vertically integrated turbulence kinetic energy (TKE).

This paper presents a diagnostic study of two models proposed by Betts (1973a). The first was a model for a well-mixed sub-cloud layer capped by a more stable transition layer. The downward heat flux at the base of this transition layer is here estimated from the thermal structure of the layer to be 15-25% of the surface sensible heat flux. The second model was a model for a two layer lapse-rate structure for the cumulus layer. A sensitivity analysis...