Fogs
Fogs
Fog is simply a cloud on the ground, whose base is at or
very near ground level. There is no physical difference
between a cloud and fog, but there are important
difference in their process of formation and in their
location.
Most clouds develop due to adiabatic cooling in rising air,
but only rarely is uplift involved in fog formation. From
global Stand point, fogs represent a minor form of
condensation.
Fog can hinder visibility to make surface transportation
(land, sea or at airports) hazardous or even impossible.
Fog
There are generally four types of Fog:
1. Radiation fog
2. Advection Fog
3. Upslope or Orographic Fog
4. Evaporation Fog
Fog
Radiation fog:
Radiation fog results from
radiational Cooling Usually
at night.
This type of fog can reduce
visibility to near zero at
times and make driving
very hazardous.
This type of fog forms at night
under clear skies with calm
winds when heat absorbed
by the earth’s surface
during the day is radiated
into space
Fog
Advection Fog:
An advection fog can develop when warm moist air
moves horizontally over cold surface, such as
snow-covered ground or a cool ocean current.
Advection fog often looks like radiation fog and is also the
result of condensation. However, the condensation in
this case is caused not by a reduction in surface
temperature, but rather by the horizontal movement
of warm moist air over a cold surface.
Sea fogs are always advection fogs, because the oceans
don’t radiate heat in the same way as land and so
never cool sufficiently to produce radiation fog. Fog
forms at sea when warm air associated with a warm
current drifts over a cold current and condensation
takes place.
Advection fog may also form when moist maritime, or
ocean, air drifts over a cold inland area. This usually
happens at night when the temperature of the land
drops due to radiational cooling.
Fog
Upslope or Orographic fog:
An upslope or Orographic fog is
sometimes created by adiabatic
cooling when humid air is caused
by ascend a topographic slope.
As the cold, moist air rises up the
slopes of the mountains,
condensation occurs and
extensive areas of fog form on
the lower slopes of the
mountains.
Fog
Evaporation fog:
An evaporation fog results from the addition
of water vapor to cold air that is already
near saturation .
This type of fog forms when sufficient water
vapor is added to the air by evaporation
and the moist air mixes with cooler,
relatively drier air.
the two common types are steam fog and
frontal fog. Steam fog forms when cold
air moves over warm water. When the
cool air mixes with the warm moist air
over the water, the moist air cools until
its humidity reaches 100% and fog forms.
This type of fog takes on the appearance
of wisps of smoke rising off the surface of
the water.
Fog
Evaporation Fog
The other type of evaporation
fog is known as frontal fog.
This type of fog forms when
warm raindrops evaporate
into a cooler drier layer of
air near the ground. Once
enough rain has evaporated
into the layer of
cool surface, the humidity of
this air reaches 100% and
fog forms.
Fog
A light fog, called as mist, is that when visibility
is restricted to 2 kilometers.
Generally, fog looks whitish in color but over
large cities and industrial areas it looks dirty
yellow or gray because of mixing of smoke,
dust and fly ash.
Smoky fog over the cities and industrial areas in
generally called as smog.
Fog
Freezing fog
Freezing fog is composed of super cooled water droplets -
which remain liquid even though the temperature is
below freezing-point. One of the characteristics of
freezing fog is that rime - composed of feathery ice
crystals - is deposited on the windward side of vertical
surfaces such as lamp posts, fence posts, overhead
wires, pylons and transmitting masts.
Freezing fog occurs when the water droplets that the fog is
composed of are "super cooled". Super cooled water
droplets remain in the liquid state until they come into
contact with a surface upon which they can freeze. As a
result, any object the freezing fog comes into contact with
will become coated with ice. The same thing happens
with freezing rain or drizzle.
Ice fog
This type of fog forms when the air temperature is well below
freezing and is composed entirely of tiny ice crystals that
are suspended in the air. Ice fog will only be witnessed in
cold Arctic / Polar air. Generally the temperature will be 14
F or colder in order for ice fog to occur.
The End