This study characterizes and compares the chemical composition of fog water at four sites in Taiwan. Fog was sampled with identical active fog collectors (modified Caltech design) using identical sampling strategies at all four sites. While the sites varied largely in terms of altitude above mean sea level (asl), type of fog, and the potential sources of constituents in fog water, the chemical composition of fog water was in all cases clearly dominated by H + , NH 4 + , NO 3 -and SO 4 2-, making up more than 85% of the total ion concentrations. The pH ranged from 2.27 to 5.95.Sulfur dioxide emissions from coal combustion in Mainland China and Taiwan as well as nitrogen oxide emissions from urbanized central-west Taiwan and the greater Taipei region were the main precursors of fog acidity. Ammonia, originating from agriculture emissions, was the main neutralizer. The Kinmen site (48 m asl), situated on an island close to Mainland China, exhibited the lowest pH and the highest sulfate concentrations. At the Xitou site on the western slopes of the Taiwan Central Mountain Range (1150 m asl), ammonium from agriculture dominated and lead to relatively high pH. At the same time, the nitrate/sulfate ratio was highest at this site (> 1 in equivalent units), resulting from relatively large contributions from street traffic. The ion concentrations at the Chilan site (1650 m asl) and the Lulin high mountain site (2862 m asl) were much lower than those at Xitou and Kinmen. While the ion concentrations at Chilan were considerably lower than at Lulin, the ion loadings, which is the amount of dissolved ions per volume of air, were similar at Chilan and Lulin.

Microphysical processes of fog and their spatial and temporal pattern are a challenge to study under natural conditions. This work focuses on the development of bidirectional fluxes of fog droplets above a forest canopy in northeastern Taiwan. Bidirectional fluxes occurred regularly, start from the smallest droplet class (<2.66 μm diameter), and subsequently extend to larger droplets up to 7.41 μm diameter. The development of the bidirectional fluxes with positive (upward) fluxes of smaller droplets and downward fluxes of larger fluxes is associated with a temperature gradient and with the activation of fog droplets according to the Köhler theory. Small fog droplets develop close to the canopy as result of evapotranspiration and subsequent condensation. The rapid growth of small fog droplets and the accelerated growth of activated droplets, a process which is more likely to occur at higher levels of the fog layer, lead to a sink of small droplets and a source of larger droplets within the fog. This is in accordance with the observation that positive droplet number fluxes of small fog droplets outnumber the negative fluxes from the larger fog droplets. For liquid water, the net flux is negative.