Stratocumulus clouds are ubiquitous over large areas of Earth's oceans. Despite their relatively consistent structure compared to other cloud structures, like thunderstorm complexes, there is significant small-scale spatial variability in stratocumulus clouds that impacts further cloud and precipitation development. This project will use an emerging modeling technique and existing cloud observations to identify the sources of spatial variability at the cloud microphysics level. The research team will then identify the best methods to simulate these sources of variability. The broader societal impact of the project would be to improve modeling of clouds which affect Earth’s radiation balance. There is also a substantial educational aspect to the project, enhancing the training of the next generation of atmospheric scientists. The primary objectives of this project are to understand the microphysical sources of spatial variability in low-level stratocumulus clouds, how this spatial variability influences the temporal evolution of the mean cloud and precipitation processes, and how the design of microphysics parameterizations influences the ability to simulate the observed spatial structure of these cloud and precipitation fields. The research team will run Large Eddy Simulations (LES) of drizzling stratocumulus clouds using Cloud Model 1 (CM1) based on observed cases with Lagrangian microphysics. Lagrangian particle-based methods employ particles that are representat