Summer fog by the river is unusually beautiful. Only at such moments do you realize how good it is to live! And the distant shores, covered with misty haze, evoke lyrical memories and dreams.
However, even the most inveterate esthete does not always have an answer to the question of what fog is and what is the mechanism of its formation. If you also do not know this, we invite you to read our article.
It should start with the fact that this natural phenomenon is formed if the air heated during the day comes in contact with the cold surface of water or soil.
So what is fog? This is a condensate of water vapor in the form of tiny droplets (aerosol), which, gathered in one place, sometimes reduce visibility to zero.
Note that fogging is not possible without solid or liquid particles called condensation nuclei. It is on them that water begins to precipitate, forming drops. It goes without saying that classic fogs from water are formed only when the ambient temperature is not lower than -20 degrees Celsius. Otherwise, their ice form is formed.
By the way, what is ice fog? In fact, their formation begins with the condensation of the same water on particles in the air, but due to the low temperature, these droplets instantly pass into the solid fraction. Given that the refractive index of ice is higher, visibility in this case decreases even more.
This will be confirmed to you by all the drivers who at least once worked in the Far North. In such circumstances, it is extremely difficult to drive a car, since even fog lights help almost nothing. And the glass freezes in a couple of minutes, so it is simply unrealistic to see the road.
Most often, fog (the nature of which we have examined) is formed in autumn, since air during this period cools more slowly than the water or earth's surface. At the place of occurrence of this natural phenomenon, atmospheric humidity tends to 100%.
As we have said, the structure of the fog can be very different. The formation can be represented only by droplets of water, water and ice, as well as exclusively ice crystals.
As you can see, fog is a multilateral phenomenon of nature, and therefore it is not surprising that several types of it are distinguished:
- Solid type. Visibility is almost limited to zero, the movement of vehicles and flights are suspended.
- Smoky variety. Visibility drops moderately, danger at low speed is small.
- “Ground” - the fog spreads at the level of the soil.
On the shores of Canadian Newfoundland, all local people are familiar with this natural phenomenon. The fact is that in these parts the Gulf Stream is connected with the Labrador Current, which causes a strong temperature difference. For six months everything is shrouded in gloomy haze, and therefore pilots and sailors do not like this area.
But there are places on our planet in which fogs have never been seen. For example, this is the Indian city of Bombay. Well, the Chilean desert of Atacama has not seen even rains in the last several hundred (or even thousands) years, so this natural phenomenon is definitely nowhere to come from.
So you found out what fog is and where it comes from.
