So as an example of what I'm interested in...

this is a satellite picture from the GOES-12 (which I got from here) geostationary satellite. Now scroll down...


Below is the same picture, which by the way is not exactly a great example, but labelled.

So I'm interested in stratocumulus and trade cumulus, which are both considered "boundary layer clouds." Clearly even in this image, the area covered by stratocumulus is huge, and it is easy to imagine that these clouds play a major role in Earth's radiation balance. Trade cumulus are less important for the radiation balance, but are interesting because of effects they might have on large-scale circulations and possibly on the hydrologic cycle.