Analysis of Dynamical and Thermal Processes Driving Fog and Quasi-Fog Life Cycles Using the 2010–2013 ParisFog Dataset

Dupont, Jean-Charles; Haeffelin, Martial; Stolaki, S.; Elías, T.

doi:10.1007/s00024-015-1159-x

Cited by 31 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Consistently with Dupont et al (2015), fog was also defined by a temperature vertical gradient from the surface up to 30 m height smaller than 0.04 • C m −1 . This upstream criterion is not mentioned in the flow chart.…”

Section: Fogmentioning

confidence: 67%

Enhanced extinction of visible radiation due to hydrated aerosols in mist and fog

Elías¹,

Dupont

Hammer

et al. 2015

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. The study assesses the contribution of aerosols to the extinction of visible radiation in the mist-fog-mist cycle. Relative humidity is large in the mist-fog-mist cycle, and aerosols most efficient in interacting with visible radiation are hydrated and compose the accumulation mode. Measurements of the microphysical and optical properties of these hydrated aerosols with diameters larger than 0.4 µm were carried out near Paris, during November 2011, under ambient conditions. Eleven mist-fog-mist cycles were observed, with a cumulated fog duration of 96 h, and a cumulated mist-fogmist cycle duration of 240 h.In mist, aerosols grew by taking up water at relative humidities larger than 93 %, causing a visibility decrease below 5 km. While visibility decreased down from 5 to a few kilometres, the mean size of the hydrated aerosols increased, and their number concentration (N ha ) increased from approximately 160 to approximately 600 cm −3 . When fog formed, droplets became the strongest contributors to visible radiation extinction, and liquid water content (LWC) increased beyond 7 mg m −3 . Hydrated aerosols of the accumulation mode co-existed with droplets, as interstitial non-activated aerosols. Their size continued to increase, and some aerosols achieved diameters larger than 2.5 µm. The mean transition diameter between the aerosol accumulation mode and the small droplet mode was 4.0 ± 1.1 µm. N ha also increased on average by 60 % after fog formation. Consequently, the mean contribution to extinction in fog was 20 ± 15 % from hydrated aerosols smaller than 2.5 µm and 6 ± 7 % from larger aerosols. The standard deviation was large because of the large variability of N ha in fog, which could be smaller than in mist or 3 times larger.The particle extinction coefficient in fog can be computed as the sum of a droplet component and an aerosol component, which can be approximated by 3.5 N ha (N ha in cm −3 and particle extinction coefficient in Mm −1 ). We observed an influence of the main formation process on N ha , but not on the contribution to fog extinction by aerosols. Indeed, in fogs formed by stratus lowering (STL), the mean N ha was 360 ± 140 cm −3 , close to the value observed in mist, while in fogs formed by nocturnal radiative cooling (RAD) under cloud-free sky, the mean N ha was 600 ± 350 cm −3 . But because visibility (extinction) in fog was also lower (larger) in RAD than in STL fogs, the contribution by aerosols to extinction depended little on the fog formation process. Similarly, the proportion of hydrated aerosols over all aerosols (dry and hydrated) did not depend on the fog formation process.Measurements showed that visibility in RAD fogs was smaller than in STL fogs due to three factors: (1) LWC was larger in RAD than in STL fogs, (2) droplets were smaller, (3) hydrated aerosols composing the accumulation mode were more numerous.

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Section: Fogmentioning

confidence: 67%

Enhanced extinction of visible radiation due to hydrated aerosols in mist and fog

Elías¹,

Dupont

Hammer

et al. 2015

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

Self Cite

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“…Fog types can be defined by the mechanism of formation (Tardif and Rasmussen, 2007). At SIRTA, radiation fog and stratus-lowering fog occur with about the same frequency, while other fog types are less common (Haeffelin et al, 2010;Dupont et al, 2016). Fog during rain occasionally occurs, but such cases have been avoided in this study because rain or drizzle drops generate very large radar reflectivities, yielding cloud property retrievals highly uncertain (Fox and Illingworth, 1997), and because of the wetting bias in the MWR retrievals in rain (Rose et al, 2005).…”

Section: Overview Of the Analysed Fog Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiation in fog: quantification of the impact on fog liquid water based on ground-based remote sensing

Wærsted¹,

Haeffelin

Dupont

et al. 2017

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Radiative cooling and heating impact the liquid water balance of fog and therefore play an important role in determining their persistence or dissipation. We demonstrate that a quantitative analysis of the radiation-driven condensation and evaporation is possible in real time using groundbased remote sensing observations (cloud radar, ceilometer, microwave radiometer). Seven continental fog events in midlatitude winter are studied, and the radiative processes are further explored through sensitivity studies. The longwave (LW) radiative cooling of the fog is able to produce 40-70 g m −2 h −1 of liquid water by condensation when the fog liquid water path exceeds 30 g m −2 and there are no clouds above the fog, which corresponds to renewing the fog water in 0.5-2 h. The variability is related to fog temperature and atmospheric humidity, with warmer fog below a drier atmosphere producing more liquid water. The appearance of a cloud layer above the fog strongly reduces the LW cooling relative to a situation with no cloud above; the effect is strongest for a low cloud, when the reduction can reach 100 %. Consequently, the appearance of clouds above will perturb the liquid water balance in the fog and may therefore induce fog dissipation. Shortwave (SW) radiative heating by absorption by fog droplets is smaller than the LW cooling, but it can contribute significantly, inducing 10-15 g m −2 h −1 of evaporation in thick fog at (winter) midday. The absorption of SW radiation by unactivated aerosols inside the fog is likely less than 30 % of the SW absorption by the water droplets, in most cases. However, the aerosols may contribute more significantly if the air mass contains a high concentration of absorbing aerosols. The absorbed radiation at the surface can reach 40-120 W m −2 during the daytime depending on the fog thickness. As in situ measurements indicate that 20-40 % of this energy is transferred to the fog as sensible heat, this surface absorption can contribute significantly to heating and evaporation of the fog, up to 30 g m −2 h −1 for thin fog, even without correcting for the typical underestimation of turbulent heat fluxes by the eddy covariance method. Since the radiative processes depend mainly on the profiles of temperature, humidity and clouds, the results of this paper are not site specific and can be generalised to fog under different dynamic conditions and formation mechanisms, and the methodology should be applicable to warmer and moister climates as well. The retrieval of approximate emissivity of clouds above fog from cloud radar should be further developed.

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“…These instruments are used to document atmospheric state variables and relevant meteorological and climatological parameters. SIRTA has hosted major national and international field campaigns, in particular the ParisFog campaign series from 2006 to 2014, during which numerous instruments were gathered each winter (October to March) to monitor dynamical, thermodynamical, radiative, optical and microphysical properties and processes that drive formation, development and dissipation of fog (see Haeffelin et al, 2010;Hammer et al, 2014;Dupont et al, 2016).…”

Section: Sites and Instruments Used In This Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three distinct types of situations are of interest: (1) vertically developed radiation fog (D-RFOG), (2) shallow radiation fog (S-RFOG) and (3) quasi-radiation fog (Q-RFOG). Following the definition of Dupont et al (2016), vertically developed radiation fog exceeds 20 m in depth. It is most frequently 100-500 m deep.…”

Section: Automatic Lidars and Ceilometersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiation fog formation alerts using attenuated backscatter power from automatic lidars and ceilometers

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Radiation fog occurs over many locations around the world in stable atmospheric conditions. Air traffic at busy airports can be significantly disrupted because low visibility at the ground makes it unsafe to take off, land and taxi on the ground. Current numerical weather prediction forecasts are able to predict general conditions favorable for fog formation, but not the exact time or location of fog occurrence. A selected set of observations available in near-real time at strategic locations could also be useful to track the evolution of key processes and key parameters that drive fog formation. Such observations could complement the information predicted by numerical weather prediction (NWP) models that is made available to airport forecasters in support of their fog forecast. This paper presents an experimental setup based on collocated automatic lidar and ceilometer measurements, relative humidity measurements and horizontal visibility measurements to study hygroscopic growth of fog condensation nuclei. This process can take several minutes to hours, and can be tracked using lidar-or ceilometer-attenuated backscatter profiles. Based on hygroscopic growth laws we derive a set of parameters that can be used to provide alerts minutes to hours prior to formation of radiation fog. We present an algorithm that uses the temporal evolution of attenuated backscatter measurements to derive pre-fog formation alerts. The performance of the algorithm is tested on 45 independent pre-fog situations at two locations (near Paris, France, and Brussels, Belgium). We find that an alert for pre-fog conditions predominantly occurs 10-50 min prior to fog formation at an altitude ranging 0 to 100 m above ground. In a few cases, alerts can occur up to 100 min prior to fog formation. Alert durations are found to be sensitive to the relative humidity conditions found a few hours prior to the fog.

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Analysis of Dynamical and Thermal Processes Driving Fog and Quasi-Fog Life Cycles Using the 2010–2013 ParisFog Dataset

Cited by 31 publications

References 28 publications

Enhanced extinction of visible radiation due to hydrated aerosols in mist and fog

Enhanced extinction of visible radiation due to hydrated aerosols in mist and fog

Radiation in fog: quantification of the impact on fog liquid water based on ground-based remote sensing

Radiation fog formation alerts using attenuated backscatter power from automatic lidars and ceilometers

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