The Future of Fog Monitoring ?

In final form 3 December 2014 ©2015 American Meteorological Society T he Glossary of Meteorology (Glickman 2000) defines fog as water droplets suspended in the atmosphere near Earth’s surface that reduce visibility to less than 1 km. The intensity of fog can be characterized by its liquid water content (LWC) and its droplet number concentration ND or by the visibility existing in the area observed during the occurrence of the phenomenon. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) visibility is defined as the greatest distance in a given direction at which a prominent black object can be seen and identified against the sky at the horizon in daylight, or the greatest distance it could be seen and recognized at night if the general illumination were raised to the level of normal daylight (WMO 2008). Visibility is related to both the LWC and droplet number in a given volume of air. In warm fog conditions (T > 0°C), and a given LWC, an increase in ND results in decreased visibility. An increase in LWC results in decreased visibility as well. Additionally, prior field research found that LWC increases with increasing ND (Gultepe et al. 2009). This being the case, visibility parameterizations for warm fog conditions should include both LWC and ND (Meyer et al. 1980; Gultepe and Isaac 2004; Gultepe et al. 2006). Details on particle spectra, chemical composition, definitions, and visibility issues in warm and cold fog conditions can be found in the literature (Klemm et al. 2005; Herckes et al. 2007; Gultepe et al. 2009, 2014). Severe visibility limitations associated with the phenomenon of fog may result in acute transportation accidents, substantial property losses, and human casualties. The total economic damage caused by the impact of fog on the different transportation modes in air, at sea, and on land can be reasonably compared with that of winter storms (Gultepe et al. 2009). Thus, reliable fog monitoring facilities are of extreme importance. Nevertheless, current observation techniques may suffer from obstacles in providing a sufficient response to coping with this hazard on a worldwide scale. Currently, predominant monitoring means include satellites, visibility sensors, transmissometers, and human-based observations. Satellite systems are most advantageous due to their

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