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An observational and modeling study of a sea fog event over the Yellow Sea on 1 August 2003

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Abstract

A dense sea fog episode that occurred near the coastal city of Qingdao in the Shandong Peninsula of China on 1 August 2003 is investigated by using all of the available observational data and high-resolution modeling results from the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS). This fog event reduced the horizontal visibility to be less than 60 m in some locations and caused several traffic accidents locally. In this paper, all of the available observational data, including visible satellite imagery of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-9 and MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), objectively reanalyzed Final Analysis (FNL) data issued by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), sounding data at the Qingdao and Dalian stations, and the latest 4.4 version of the RAMS model, were employed to study this sea fog case. We begin with the analyses of the environmental conditions of the sea fog event, including the large-scale conditions, the difference between T 2m (air temperature at 2 m altitude) and sea surface temperature (SST), and the atmospheric sounding profiles of the two stations. The characteristics of this sea fog event was documented by using visible satellite imagery of GOES-9 and MODIS. In order to better understand the fog formation mechanism, a high-resolution RAMS model of dimensions 4 km × 4 km was designed, which was initialized and validated by FNL data. A 54-h modeling period that started from 18 UTC 31 July 2003 reproduced the main characteristics of this sea fog event. The simulated lower visibility area agreed well with the sea fog area identified from the satellite imagery. It is shown that advection cooling effect plays a significant role in the fog formation.

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Notes

  1. Sounding data are only available at 00 and 12 UTC every day.

  2. 00 UTC = local 08 BST (Beijing Standard Time).

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Acknowledgments

The original version of this manuscript was written by Joseph G. Crompton, who was a visiting student in the summer of 2004 through the program of Research Experience for Undergraduates in Marine Science and Engineering in China supported by the National Science Foundation of the United States (NSF-China). It has been revised significantly. The authors would like to express their gratitude to the editor and the three anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. G. Fu was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant number 406750060, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology under the 863 Project grant number 2006AA09Z151, and the Chinese Meteorological Administration under grant number GYHY(QX)200706031. This work was also supported by the open project of the Laboratory of Physical Oceanography, Ocean University of China. Joseph G. Crompton would like to thank Professors Hayley Shen and Hung Tao Shen at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Clarkson University for organizing this program. Special thanks go to Dr. Chungu Lu of the Natural Science Foundation and Dr. Shan Sun of the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) for the English language improvement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Physical Oceanography, Department of Marine Meteorology, Ocean University of China, No. 238, Songling Road, Qingdao, 266100, People’s Republic of China

    Gang Fu, Pengyuan Li, Shanhong Gao & Suping Zhang

  2. Johns Hopkins University, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA

    Joseph G. Crompton

  3. North China Sea Marine Forecasting Center, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, 266033, China

    Jingtian Guo

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  1. Gang Fu
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  2. Pengyuan Li
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  3. Joseph G. Crompton
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  4. Jingtian Guo
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  5. Shanhong Gao
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  6. Suping Zhang
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Correspondence to Gang Fu.

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Fu, G., Li, P., Crompton, J.G. et al. An observational and modeling study of a sea fog event over the Yellow Sea on 1 August 2003. Meteorol Atmos Phys 107, 149–159 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-010-0073-0

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