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  • A mechanism for coastal fog...
    Hintz, Thomas J.; Huang, Kelly Y.; Hoch, Sebastian W.; Bardoel, Stef L.; Gaberšek, Saša; Gultepe, Ismail; Ruiz‐Plancarte, Jesus; Pardyjak, Eric R.; Wang, Qing; Fernando, Harindra J. S.

    Quarterly journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, July 2024 Part A, Letnik: 150, Številka: 762
    Journal Article

    Transitional changes in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) are known to facilitate the onset of terrestrial fog, which is defined as a condition with near‐surface visibility <1 km due to airborne water droplets. In particular, the evening transition from a daytime convective ABL to a night‐time stable ABL provides favorable conditions for fog. This article describes a local fog event observed during the evening transition at a Canadian islet in the north Atlantic known as Sable Island during the “Fog and Turbulence Interactions in the Marine Atmosphere (Fatima)” field campaign. The comprehensive set of data collected using a myriad of instruments covering a wide range of scales allowed identification of a novel mechanism underlying this fog event. Therein an ocean–land discontinuity created a flow regime consisting of several stacked boundary layers, interplay of which produced a thin low‐level cloud that then diffused downward to the surface, causing visibility reduction. This mechanism offers useful insights on the role of boundary layers, stratification, and turbulence in fog genesis over oceanic islands. A unique fog event occurred on Sable Island, an islet in the Atlantic Ocean, during the evening of July 21, 2022. An ocean–land discontinuity created a flow regime consisting of several stacked boundary layers, interplay of which produced a low‐level cloud that then diffused downward to the surface, causing visibility reduction, an event that was not predicted accurately by forecasting models. A proposed formation mechanism agrees strongly with an expansive set of measurements and offers insights into how atmospheric cooling, flow stratification, and turbulence relate to coastal fog genesis.