Figure provides 𝑃(𝑆), the distributions of the order parameter S at different areas per lipid in S400 (solid lines) and L3200 (dashed lines) systems at different temperatures. 𝑃(𝑆) is calculated with a precision of Δ𝑆 =0.01, over 20 frames spanning the last 1 million steps (1000 𝜏) in the S400 systems, while it is calculated over 10 frames spanning the last 1 million steps in the L3200 systems. The order parameter values are obtained for each tail in a frame, totaling 1600 tails per frame in the S400 systems and 12,800 tails per frame in the L3200 systems, providing sufficient statistics. Monolayer phase at 293K is narrowly peaked at S values 0.91-0.95 at 𝑎 𝐿 = 53.1 𝐴 0 2 indicating a predominant LC phase. Increasing the temperature to 304 K leads to a broadening of the distribution, peaking at a lower S value of 0.89 and a reduction in the peak height by ~30 %. Further increase in temperature, showed a slower reduction in peak point (𝑆 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 =0.87 for both 313 K and 324 K) and peak height (by 36 % and 41% respectively with respect to 293 K ), as the temperatures are close to or beyond the critical point. At a low area per lipid, the lipids are compressed to the extent that they cannot adopt a slanted orientation relative to the interface normal. As a result, the tail order parameters cannot become much lower with temperature increase. The S distributions at 293 K exhibit distinctive peaks corresponding to orientations normal (S ∼ 0.9, low 𝑎 𝐿 ) or parallel (S ∼ -0.4, high 𝑎 𝐿 ) to the interface; at intermediate values of 𝑎 𝐿 the distributions tend to be double peaked. As the temperature increases, the distribution peaks shift towards the intermediate values of S, corresponding to orientations at intermediate angles. This is most evident at the 𝑎 𝐿 values corresponding to LE-LC coexistence. For example, the black solid curve (𝑎 𝐿 ≈ 72 𝐴 𝑜 2 ) in Figure , has peaks at S=-0.4 and S=0.86 at 293 K, which shift towards -0.2 and 0.76 at 304 K. At 313 K, it changes to a plateau distribution without a distinct peak, while at 324 K, it is most populated within S values -0.2 to 0.5.