Fog inception in strong salt-laden marine winds

Abstract

During a warmfront passage on the U.S. Northeast Coast, fog patches were seen forming in the air just above the water surface in strong, moist and hazy marine winds. Water temperature, air temperature and airborne salt particle measurements were made at the time. They show that the fog was due to saturation or supersaturation by vertical mixing, but with the supersaturation probably less than critical because of the high concentration of salt nuclei present. It is therefore thought that the fog patches represented the beginnings of a stable fog of haze droplets.