Coastal Marine Fog in Southern California

Noonkester, V. R.

doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1979)107<0830:cmfisc>2.0.co;2

Cited by 34 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Fog is produced off California not in association with warm surface air advection but with cold surface air advection. Here, the cloud layer with the inversion at the top is depressed by off-shore flow coming from inland over the coastal mountains (Koračin et al 2014), the cloud layer is thickened by cloud top long wave cooling, and the cloud layer is observed as fog when the base attaches to the surface (Noonkester 1979).…”

Section: B Fog Frequency and Meteorological Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of the Cloud Top Heights of Marine Boundary Layer Clouds and the Frequency of Marine Fog over Mid-Latitudes

Kawai¹,

Yabu²,

Hagihara

et al. 2015

Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan

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The cloud top height of marine boundary layer clouds (MBLCs) in the mid-latitudes has received less attention than that of subtropical MBLCs and is investigated here using cloud mask data, which were based on observations from the cloud-aerosol lidar and infrared pathfinder satellite observation (CALIPSO) satellite. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the observational characteristics of variations in cloud top height of MBLCs and fog frequency over the mid-latitudes. Seasonal variations in the cloud top height of mid-latitude MBLCs as well as the differences in these seasonal variations between the Northern and Southern hemispheres were determined. For example, over the North Pacific, the cloud top height is high in winter (up to 1800 m) but low in summer (down to 800 m), whereas in the Southern Hemisphere, the seasonal variation is not well defined, with heights ranging from 1300 to 1500 m. While clear seasonal variations in the frequency of fog occurrence are found over the North Pacific and the northwest Atlantic, the fog frequency over the Southern Ocean is almost constant irrespective of the season. High correlations were found between the MBLC top height and stability indexes and between the fog frequency and some surface parameters such as temperature difference between the surface air and the sea surface. The latitudinal variations in the cloud top height of MBLCs in summer and winter over the Southern Ocean were compared with those over the North Pacific. The difference in cloud top heights between nighttime and daytime is also presented.

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Section: B Fog Frequency and Meteorological Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of the Cloud Top Heights of Marine Boundary Layer Clouds and the Frequency of Marine Fog over Mid-Latitudes

Kawai¹,

Yabu²,

Hagihara

et al. 2015

Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan

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“…Here P is the average surface pressure in hPa and the number in parenthesis indicates the average inversion base height of the soundings in meters. (SFC/SFC) and 19% (12 out of 64 events) show a lifting of the surface inversion by the time of dissipation (SFC/UPP), which may be due to the fog top radiative cooling that drives the turbulent mixing of the fog layer (Noonkester, 1979). When combined, 42% of coastal fogs are formed when there is a surface inversion near the time of formation.…”

Section: Vertical Soundingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There have been some good attempts at this: the series of papers by Koracin et al (2001), Lewis et al (2003), and Koracin et al (2005) have demonstrated through modeling and observational analyses that California coastal sea fogs can be formed by synoptic scale forcing lead-ing to subsidence of stratus clouds down to the surface. Noonkester (1979) showed through multi-sensor observations and numerical simulation that coastal marine fog in southern California mainly developed during Santa Ana conditions (Aguado and Burt, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local meteorological and synoptic characteristics of fogs formed over Incheon international airport in the west coast of Korea

Kim

Yum

2010

Adv. Atmos. Sci.

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Fogs observed over Incheon international airport (IIA) in the west coast of Korea from January 2002 to August 2006 are classified into categories of coastal fog, cold sea fog, and warm sea fog based on the areal extent of the fogs and the difference between the air temperature (T ) and the SST, i.e., cold sea fog if TSST = T −SST > 0• C and warm sea fog if TSST < 0 • C. The numbers of coastal, cold, and warm sea fog cases are 64, 26, and 9. Coastal fogs form most frequently in winter, while cold sea fogs occur mostly in summer and warm sea fogs are observed from January to May but not in November and December. On average the air gets colder by 1.6• C during the three hours leading up to the coastal fog formation, and an additional cooling of 1.1• C occurs during the fog. The change in the dew point temperature (T d ) is minimal except during the fog (0.6• C). Decreases in T for the cold and warm sea fogs are relatively smaller. The average T d is higher than SST during the cold sea fog periods but this T d is more than 4• C higher than that for the corresponding non-fog days, suggesting that cold sea fogs be formed by the cooling of already humid air (i.e., T d >SST). Increases of T d are significant during the warm sea fog periods (1.4• C), implying that efficient moisture supply is essential to warm sea fog formation. Four major synoptic patterns are identified in association with the observed fogs. The most frequent is a north Pacific high that accounts for 38% of cases. Surface or upper inversions are present in 77%, 69%, and 81% of the fog periods for coastal, cold, and warm sea fogs, respectively.Key words: costal fogs, sea fogs, west coast of Korea, meteorological and synoptic characteristics Citation: Kim, C. K., and S. S. Yum, 2010: Local meteorological and synoptic characteristics of fogs formed over Incheon international airport in the west coast of Korea.

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“…In winter, cool surface air over warmer water promotes evaporation and convective mixing and creates fog (Pilié et al 1979). In summer warm moist air gets cooler as it passes over cold water and produces large regions of persistent, dynamically stable, dense fog (Stone 1936;Noonkester 1979;Roach 1995;Lewis et al 2003). The location and features of the coast determine the season and method of fog formation (e.g., Leipper 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relative Humidity over the West Florida Continental Shelf

Virmani

Weisberg

2005

Monthly Weather Review

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Observed relative humidity variations on the coastal ocean of the West Florida Continental Shelf (WFS) are examined over the 5-yr period 1998-2003. Despite considerable daily variability within seasons, the monthly mean values are nearly constant at about 75%. Summertime specific humidity is twice that during winter, so high air temperatures are responsible for the low summer monthly mean relative humidities. Winter has the greatest relative humidity variability; values range from less than 50% to over 100% as extratropical fronts move over the WFS. Saturation (and fog) occurs as warm moist air passes over colder water. Two different sensors, mounted on multiple moorings, were used to make these observations. Monthly mean values from the Rotronics MP-100F are higher than the Hygrometrix 1020SHT. In addition to sensor differences, a contributing cause to this offset appears to be the locations chosen for sensor deployment. NCEP reanalysis climatology over the WFS and land-based coastal data both show an annual cycle in monthly mean relative humidity, with higher values in summer, suggesting that the reanalysis field is influenced by land. Air-sea fluxes over the WFS are sensitive to small spatial variability in the coastal ocean and atmosphere. The large grid spacing of the NCEP reanalysis does not capture this variability. The lack of coastal ocean data for assimilation biases the NCEP reanalysis fields toward land-based measurements. Increased spatial coverage via evolving Coastal Ocean Observing Systems should remedy this problem by providing required information for describing and understanding the complicated ocean-atmosphere interactions that occur on continental shelves.

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Coastal Marine Fog in Southern California

Cited by 34 publications

References 0 publications

Characteristics of the Cloud Top Heights of Marine Boundary Layer Clouds and the Frequency of Marine Fog over Mid-Latitudes

Characteristics of the Cloud Top Heights of Marine Boundary Layer Clouds and the Frequency of Marine Fog over Mid-Latitudes

Local meteorological and synoptic characteristics of fogs formed over Incheon international airport in the west coast of Korea

Relative Humidity over the West Florida Continental Shelf

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