Ode to water and fog

You’ve probably had the conversation yourself: “Would you be a bird or a fish if you had the choice?”

I’ve always answered fish and I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the ocean and water bodies in general. I grew up boogie boarding, surf kayaking and surfing. I love the piano because if you ask me its sound holds the closest resemblance to a sound water would make.

I’ve always been extremely enamored with fog as well. I love running in it, love its insulation, love its mystery and love how intrusive it can be. I was just talking about the formation of fog the other day and realized that it’s the closest we come to being immersed in a body water without being in a body of water. Well actually I guess this would be rivaled by humidity so I wonder which holds the most moisture.

 

Different forms of fog:

• Radiation fog is formed by the cooling of land after sunset by thermal (infrared) radiation in calm conditions with clear sky. The cool ground then produces condensation in the nearby air by heat conduction. In perfect calm the fog layer can be less than a metre deep but turbulence can promote a thicker layer. Radiation fog is common in autumn and usually does not last long past sunrise.

• Advection fog occurs when moist air passes over cool ground by advection (wind) and is cooled. This form is most common at sea when tropical air encounters cooler higher-latitude waters. It is also extremely common as a warm front passes over an area with significant snowpack.

• Steam fog is the most localized form and is created by cold air passing over much warmer water. Water vapor quickly enters the atmosphere by evaporation and condensation occurs once the dewpoint has been reached, thus creating a wispy steam. Steam fog is most common in polar regions, and around deeper and larger lakes in late autumn and early winter. It is closely related to lake-effect snow and lake-effect rain, and often causes freezing fog, or sometimes hoar frost.

• Precipitation fog (or frontal fog) forms as precipitation falls into drier air below the cloud, the liquid droplets evaporate into water vapour. The water vapour cools and at the dewpoint it condenses and fog forms.

• Upslope fog forms when winds blow air up a slope (called orographic lift), adiabatical cooling it as it rises, and causing the moisture in it to condense. This often causes freezing fog on mountaintops, where the cloud ceiling would not otherwise be low enough.

 

Comments

[johnny]

advection fog is that with which you are so enamoured, commonly occurring in the monterey bay.

[Eric Jones]

always tropical air john?