The impact of climate change on water fluxes in a Macaronesian cloud forest

Fog phenomena and their associated meteorological variables were continuously monitored during 4 years in an evergreen laurisilva cloud forest of the Anaga Massif Biosphere Reserve (Tenerife, Canary Islands), in order to establish its current dynamics. Fog was more frequent during night through early morning and in the afternoon, and particularly from May until September, coincidental with a frequent immersion of the 1025 m a.s.l. experimental site in the cloud layer of wind‐driven stratocumulus. The concomitant meteorological conditions during different fog regimes, characterized according to visibility (Ω) ranges, were compared with those when fog was absent. The presence of fog was associated with a significant reduction in global solar radiation, R_g, increased wind speed, and lower and more stable ambient temperatures. The foggy versus fog‐free hourly medians of R_g were found to be linearly related, whereas the proportion of median R_g reduction due to fog varied logarithmically with Ω. However, foggy versus fog‐free extreme values of the hourly R_g distributions departed from such a linear trend. By contrast, hourly temperatures during foggy versus fog‐free periods behaved linearly for most of the Ω range, except for very dense fog, Ω ≤ 100 m. Transpiration of the canopy, intermittently wetted due to interception of both rain and fog water droplets, was determined by quantifying the water balance at leaf scale with a mathematical model for the two representative hypostomatous species present at the site: the arboreal shrub Erica platycodon, with needle‐like leaves, and the laurophyll tree Myrica faya. Both tree transpiration and evaporation of the intercepted fog water were predictively higher during summer. By contrast, transpiration was reduced during February, in agreement with a 1 year period of sap velocity measurements, and was not appreciably affected by soil moisture content. The consequences of an anticipated downward shift of the stratocumulus cloud layer and of various projected Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) scenarios in the Macaronesian area were simulated, yielding in all cases a significant rise in transpiration for both species. Particularly, the simulated RCPs scenarios implied 29%–73% increments in transpiration from the actual values. Because fog is concomitant with lower temperatures and vapour pressure deficit, the modification of its current distribution as a consequence of climate change may have a direct effect on such associated meteorological variables, and therefore a meaningful impact in the water relations of the laurel cloud forests.     

Fog Simulations Based on Multi-Model System: A Feasibility Study

Accurate forecasts of fog and visibility are very important to air and high way traffic, and are still a big challenge. A 1D fog model (PAFOG) is coupled to MM5 by obtaining the initial and boundary conditions (IC/BC) and some other necessary input parameters from MM5. Thus, PAFOG can be run for any area of interest. On the other hand, MM5 itself can be used to simulate fog events over a large domain. This paper presents evaluations of the fog predictability of these two systems for December of 2006 and December of 2007, with nine regional fog events observed in a field experiment, as well as over a large domain in eastern China. Among the simulations of the nine fog events by the two systems, two cases were investigated in detail. Daily results of ground level meteorology were validated against the routine observations at the CMA observational network. Daily fog occurrences for the two study periods was validated in Nanjing. General performance of the two models for the nine fog cases are presented by comparing with routine and field observational data. The results of MM5 and PAFOG for two typical fog cases are verified in detail against field observations. The verifications demonstrated that all methods tended to overestimate fog occurrence, especially for near-fog cases. In terms of TS/ETS, the LWC-only threshold with MM5 showed the best performance, while PAFOG showed the worst. MM5 performed better for advection–radiation fog than for radiation fog, and PAFOG could be an alternative tool for forecasting radiation fogs. PAFOG did show advantages over MM5 on the fog dissipation time. The performance of PAFOG highly depended on the quality of MM5 output. The sensitive runs of PAFOG with different IC/BC showed the capability of using MM5 output to run the 1D model and the high sensitivity of PAFOG on cloud cover. Future works should intensify the study of how to improve the quality of input data (e.g. cloud cover, advection, large scale subsidence) for the 1D model, particularly how to eliminate near-fog case in fog forecasting.     

Short-term changes in global cloud cover and in cosmic radiation

Galactic cosmic rays (GCR) have been suggested as a possible contributory mechanism to cloud formation. If these are significant then, in addition to the similarity between long-term (years) changes in GCR and cloud cover, there should also be a similarity over shorter (days) time scales. This paper reports an analysis of changes in global cloud cover and GCR recorded at 3 hourly intervals over 22 years. There is a significant correlation between short-term changes in low cloud cover over northern and southern hemispheres, consistent with about 3% of the variation arising from common factors. However, GCR is not a major factor responsible for cloud cover changes. There is an association between short-term changes in low cloud cover and galactic cosmic radiation over a period of several days. This could arise if approximately 3% of the variations in cloud cover resulted from GCR.     

Fog interception by non‐vascular epiphytes in tropical montane cloud forests: dependencies on gauge type and meteorological conditions

Precipitation is the most fundamental input of water for terrestrial ecosystems. Most precipitation inputs are vertical, via rain, but can be horizontal, via wind‐driven rain and snow, or, in some ecosystems such as tropical montane cloud forests (TMCFs), via fog interception. Fog interception can be particularly important in ecosystems where fog is frequently present and there are seasonal periods of lower rainfall. Epiphytes in trees are a major ecological component of TMCFs and are particularly dependent on fog interception during periods of lower rainfall because they lack access to soil water. But assessing fog interception by epiphytes remains problematic because: (i) a variety of field or laboratory methods have been used, yet comparisons of interception by epiphytes versus interception by various types of fog gauge are lacking; (ii) previous studies have not accounted for potential interactions between meteorological factors. We compared fog interception by epiphytes with two kinds of commonly used fog gauges and developed relations between fog interception and meteorological variables by conducting laboratory experiments that manipulated key fog characteristics and from field measurements of fog interception by epiphytes. Fog interception measured on epiphytes was correlated with that measured from fog gauges but was more than an order of magnitude smaller than the actual measurements from fog gauges, highlighting a key measurement issue. Our laboratory measurements spanned a broad range of liquid water content (LWC) values for fog and indicate how fog interception is sensitive to an interaction between wind speed and LWC. Based on our results, considered in concert with those from other studies, we hypothesize that fog interception is constrained when LWC is low or high, and that fog interception increases with wind speed for intermediate values of LWC—a net result of deposition, impaction, and evaporation processes—until interception begins to decrease with further increases in wind speed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Variability of foF2 for an equatorial station and comparison with the foF2 maps in IRI model

In this study, foF2 data obtained from an equatorial station in West Africa were subjected to an occurrence probability distribution test. This was done on an hourly basis, for all the 24 h of the day. The results show that the probability (N_p) of predicting foF2 within the range±of a standard deviation (σ) centered on the mean (μ) is ⩾0.68 is at least about 70% of the hourly set of data considered in this study irrespective of time of the day, season or solar cycle period. The distribution is not, however, perfectly symmetrically distributed around the mean. The seasonal hourly averages of foF2 were compared with those of IRI predictions. The IRI representation was found to be very good at low and moderate solar activity for both day and nighttime when the ITU-R coefficients are used. This is also true of the daytime at high solar activity. The night time prediction is only fairly good when the URSI coefficients are used for the prediction.     

Analysis to significant climate change in aerosol influence domain of Beijing and its peripheral areas by EOF mode

Using the total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS) aerosol optical depth (AOD)data and the sunshine duration, fog days, Iow cloud cover (LCC), etc. meteorological data in 1979-2000 in North China, as well as empirical orthogonal function (EOF) mode statistical analyses method, the winter aerosol distributive character of Beijing and peripheral city agglomeration and its influence effect on regional climate are investigated in this paper, especially the relation between aerosol influence effect and distinct change regions of eigenvectors of EOF mode. It is found from analyzing the regional distribution of the long-term averaged winter TOMS AOD that there is a large-scale relatively stable high value zone of aerosol concentration in the valley of the Beijing and peripheral U-shape megarelief. A high correlation area of AOD between Beijing and its southern peripheral exists in winter, and in this significant region of aerosol interaction, there is "in-phase" character of the interannual variations of winter AOD, fog days, and LCCs. It indicates that the variations of aerosol in Beijing and its peripheral areas have impacts on interannual changes of fog days and LCCs in this area. The EOF analyses of the meteorological data further reveal the climate change regions and long-term trends of winter sunshine duration-reducing, and LCC- and fog days-increasing in North China. The areas of significant changes of the first EOF eigenvectors (FEE) of sunshine duration, fog days, LCCs almost superpose on corresponding marked regions of interdecadal differences between the 1990s and 1980s, and all accord with the S-N zonal high value pattern and high correlation region of winter AOD in Beijing and its peripheral areas. Interannual variations of their associated time coefficients (ATC) are in phase with that of regional mean AOD, and both of them have a secular rising trend. Results by EOF mode analyses depict the regional climatic change principal character of winter sunshine duration-reducing, and LCC- and fog days-increasing in peripheral areas to the south of Beijing, and reveal the regional influence effect of aerosol, i.e. the high value zone of long-term averaged winter AOD, significant change regions of FEE of sunshine duration, fog days, and LCC all lie in peripheral city agglomeration to the south of Beijing. These distributive features above suggest that there exists a regional strengthening trend of aerosol climatic effect within influence domain in peripheral city agglomeration to the south of Beijing.     

The Impact of Vertical Resolution in the Explicit Numerical Forecasting of Radiation Fog: A Case Study

Numerical experiments are performed with a comprehensive one-dimensional boundary layer/fog model to assess the impact of vertical resolution on explicit model forecasts of an observed fog layer. Two simulations were performed, one using a very high resolution and another with a vertical grid typical of current high-resolution mesoscale models. Both simulations were initialized with the same profiles, derived from observations from a fog field experiment. Significant differences in the onset and evolution of fog were found. The results obtained with the high-resolution simulation are in overall better agreement with available observations. The cooling rate before the appearance of fog is better represented, while the evolution of the liquid water content within the fog layer is more realistic. Fog formation is delayed in the low resolution simulation, and the water content in the fog layer shows large-amplitude oscillations. These results show that the numerical representation of key thermo-dynamical processes occurring in fog layers is significantly altered by the use of a grid with reduced vertical resolution.     

Estimating fog deposition at a Puerto Rican elfin cloud forest site: comparison of the water budget and eddy covariance methods

The deposition of fog to a wind‐exposed 3 m tall Puerto Rican cloud forest at 1010 m elevation was studied using the water budget and eddy covariance methods. Fog deposition was calculated from the water budget as throughfall plus stemflow plus interception loss minus rainfall corrected for wind‐induced loss and effect of slope. The eddy covariance method was used to calculate the turbulent liquid cloud water flux from instantaneous turbulent deviations of the surface‐normal wind component and cloud liquid water content as measured at 4 m above the forest canopy. Fog deposition rates according to the water budget under rain‐free conditions (0·11 ± 0·05 mm h^?1) and rainy conditions (0·24 ± 0·13 mm h^?1) were about three to six times the eddy‐covariance‐based estimate (0·04 ± 0·002 mm h^?1). Under rain‐free conditions, water‐budget‐based fog deposition rates were positively correlated with horizontal fluxes of liquid cloud water (as calculated from wind speed and liquid water content data). Under rainy conditions, the correlation became very poor, presumably because of errors in the corrected rainfall amounts and very high spatial variability in throughfall. It was demonstrated that the turbulent liquid cloud water fluxes as measured at 4 m above the forest could be only ～40% of the fluxes at the canopy level itself due to condensation of moisture in air moving upslope. Other factors, which may have contributed to the discrepancy in results obtained with the two methods, were related to effects of footprint mismatch and methodological problems with rainfall measurements under the prevailing windy conditions. Best estimates of annual fog deposition amounted to ～770 mm year^?1 for the summit cloud forest just below the ridge top (according to the water budget method) and ～785 mm year^?1 for the cloud forest on the lower windward slope (using the eddy‐covariance‐based deposition rate corrected for estimated vertical flux divergence). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fog precipitation in the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve,Guatemala

Fog precipitation occurs when fog droplets are filtered by the forest canopy and coalesce on the vegetative surfaces to form larger water droplets that drip to the forest floor. This study examines the quantity of throughfall compared with incident precipitation produced by the canopy of a lower montane rain forest (2100 m) and an upper montane cloud forest (2550 m) in the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala. Fog precipitation was measured with throughfall and precipitation gauges from 23 July 1995 to 7 June 1996. Fog precipitation occurred during sampling periods when throughfall exceeded incident precipitation. Fog precipitation contributed <1% of total water inputs in the cloud forest at 2100 m during the 44‐week period, whereas fog precipitation contributed 7·4% at 2550 m during the same period. The depth equivalent of fog precipitation was greater at 2550 m (203·4 mm) than at 2100 m (23·4 mm). The calculation of fog precipitation in this study is underestimated. The degree of underestimation may be evident in the difference in apparent rainfall interception between 2100 m (35%) and 2550 m (4%). Because the apparent interception rate at 2550 m is significantly lower than 2100 m, the canopy probably is saturated for longer periods as a result of cloud water contributions. Data show a seasonal pattern of fog precipitation most evident at the 2550 m site. Fog precipitation represented a larger proportion of total water inputs during the dry season (November to May). Because cloud forests generate greater than 1 mm day^?1 of fog precipitation in higher elevations of the Sierra de las Minas, the conservation of the cloud forest may be important to meet the water demands of a growing population in the surrounding arid lowlands. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulating Z–LWC Relations in Natural Fogs with Radiative Transfer Calculations for Future Application to a Cloud Radar Profiler

The vertical distribution of liquid water content (LWC) in natural fog and low stratus is a crucial variable in many applications, e.g. the development of satellite based retrievals of ground fog. Unfortunately, there is very little data concerning fog LWC-profiles, mainly due to the lack of suitable operational instrumentation. A novel ground-based 94?GHz FMCW cloud radar could fill this gap if radar reflectivity Z could be converted to LWC by using appropriate Z–LWC relations. However, this relation strongly depends on drop size distribution (DSD) and is hardly known for natural fog types. In this sensitivity study, the influence of the DSD on the Z–LWC relation in different types and life cycle stages of natural fogs is analyzed using a radiative transfer code (RTC) and published fog drop size distributions. It could be shown that there is a direct but nonlinear relationship between LWC and radar reflectivity. The proportionality factor of the Z–LWC equation in particular reveals specific ranges for the different life cycle stages. If a proper classification of fog life cycle in the field is possible, the results could be used to properly convert Z to LWC.     

Assessment of drought vulnerability based on the soil moisture PDF

This paper studies the statistics of the soil moisture condition and its monthly variation for the purpose of evaluating drought vulnerability. A zero-dimensional soil moisture dynamics model with the rainfall forcing by the rectangular pulses Poisson process model are used to simulate the soil moisture time series for three sites in Korea: Seoul, Daegu, and Jeonju. These sites are located in the central, south-eastern, and south-western parts of the Korean Peninsular, respectively. The model parameters are estimated on a monthly basis using hourly rainfall data and monthly potential evaporation rates obtained by the Penmann method. The resulting soil moisture simulations are summarized on a monthly basis. In brief, the conclusions of our study are as follows. (1) Strong seasonality is observed in the simulations of soil moisture. The soil moisture mean is less than 0.5 during the dry spring season (March, April, and June), but other months exceed the 0.5 value. (2) The spring season is characterized by a low mean value, a high standard deviation and a positive skewness of the soil moisture content. On the other hand, the wet season is characterized by a high mean value, low standard deviation, and negative skewness of the soil moisture content. Thus, in the spring season, much drier soil moisture conditions are apparent due to the higher variability and positive skewness of the soil moisture probability density function (PDF), which also indicates more vulnerability to severe drought occurrence. (3) Seoul, Daegue, and Jeonju show very similar overall trends of soil moisture variation; however, Daegue shows the least soil moisture contents all through the year, which implies that the south-eastern part of the Korean Peninsula is most vulnerable to drought. On the other hand, the central part and the south-western part of the Korean peninsula are found to be less vulnerable to the risk of drought. The conclusions of the study are in agreement with the climatology of the Korean Peninsula.     

Variations in global cloud cover and the fair-weather vertical electric field

Statistically significant (at the 95% significance level) changes in daily cloud cover are found to occur globally over land coincident with extreme increases in ‘fair-weather’ measurements of vertical electric field (E_z) measured at Vostok, Antarctica. Using global cloud products from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) D1 data series, superposed epoch analyses were made of both increases and decreases in E_z. Field significance testing revealed that, both before and after extreme increases in E_z, significant absolute cloud cover changes (of 13–15%) occur in the tropics and high latitudes. While the linkages in the tropics may reflect changes in the main convective cloud generators of current flow in the global circuit, the linkages at high latitudes appear to represent responses of clouds to the current flow. This linkage offers a possible explanation of a possible solar–terrestrial climate amplification mechanism.     

Estimation of the GEV distribution from censored samples by method of partial probability weighted moments

The concept of partial probability weighted moments (PPWM), which can be used to estimate a distribution from censored samples, is introduced. Unbiased estimators of PPWM are derived. An application is made to estimating parameters and quantiles of the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution from censored samples. Censored samples yield high quantile estimates which are almost as efficient as those obtained from uncensored samples. This could be a very useful technique for dealing with the undesirable effects of low outliers which occur in semiarid and arid zones.     

The Relation Between Humidity and Liquid Water Content in Fog: An Experimental Approach

Microphysical measurements of orographic fog were performed above a montane cloud forest in northeastern Taiwan (Chilan mountain site). The measured parameters include droplet size distribution (DSD), absolute humidity (AH), relative humidity (RH), air temperature, wind speed and direction, visibility, and solar short wave radiation. The scope of this work was to study the short term variations of DSD, temperature, and RH, with a temporal resolution of 3?Hz. The results show that orographic fog is randomly composed of various air volumes that are intrinsically rather homogeneous, but exhibit clear differences between each other with respect to their size, RH, LWC, and DSD. Three general types of air volumes have been identified via the recorded DSD. A statistical analysis of the characteristics of these volumes yielded large variabilities in persistence, RH, and LWC. Further, the data revealed an inverse relation between RH and LWC. In principle, this finding can be explained by the condensational growth theory for droplets containing soluble or insoluble material. Droplets with greater diameters can exist at lower ambient RH than smaller ones. However, condensational growth alone is not capable to explain the large observed differences in DSD and RH because the respective growth speeds are too slow to explain the observed phenomena. Other mechanisms play key roles as well. Possible processes leading to the large observed differences in RH and DSD include turbulence induced collision and coalescence, and heterogeneous mixing. More analyses including fog droplet chemistry and dynamic microphysical modeling are required to further study these processes. To our knowledge, this is the first experimental field observation of the anti-correlation between RH and LWC in fog.     

Volcanic ash hazard climatology for an eruption of Hekla Volcano,Iceland

Ash produced by a volcanic eruption on Iceland can be hazardous for both the transatlantic flight paths and European airports and airspace. In order to begin to quantify the risk to aircraft, this study explored the probability of ash from a short explosive eruption of Hekla Volcano (63.98°N, 19.7°W) reaching European airspace. Transport, dispersion and deposition of the ash cloud from a three hour ‘explosive’ eruption with an initial plume height of 12 km was simulated using the Met Office's Numerical Atmospheric-dispersion Modelling Environment, NAME, the model used operationally by the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre. Eruptions were simulated over a six year period, from 2003 until 2008, and ash clouds were tracked for four days following each eruption.Results showed that a rapid spread of volcanic ash is possible, with all countries in Europe facing the possibility of an airborne ash concentration exceeding International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) limits within 24 h of an eruption. An additional high impact, low probability event which could occur is the southward spread of the ash cloud which would block transatlantic flights approaching and leaving Europe. Probabilities of significant concentrations of ash are highest to the east of Iceland, with probabilities exceeding 20% in most countries north of 50°N. Deposition probabilities were highest at Scottish and Scandinavian airports. There is some seasonal variability in the probabilities; ash is more likely to reach southern Europe in winter when the mean winds across the continent are northerly. Ash concentrations usually remain higher for longer during summer when the mean wind speeds are lower.     

Integration of Local Observations into the One Dimensional Fog Model PAFOG

The numerical prediction of fog requires a very high vertical resolution of the atmosphere. Owing to a prohibitive computational effort of high resolution three dimensional models, operational fog forecast is usually done by means of one dimensional fog models. An important condition for a successful fog forecast with one dimensional models consists of the proper integration of observational data into the numerical simulations. The goal of the present study is to introduce new methods for the consideration of these data in the one dimensional radiation fog model PAFOG. First, it will be shown how PAFOG may be initialized with observed visibilities. Second, a nudging scheme will be presented for the inclusion of measured temperature and humidity profiles in the PAFOG simulations. The new features of PAFOG have been tested by comparing the model results with observations of the German Meteorological Service. A case study will be presented that reveals the importance of including local observations in the model calculations. Numerical results obtained with the modified PAFOG model show a distinct improvement of fog forecasts regarding the times of fog formation, dissipation as well as the vertical extent of the investigated fog events. However, model results also reveal that a further improvement of PAFOG might be possible if several empirical model parameters are optimized. This tuning can only be realized by comprehensive comparisons of model simulations with corresponding fog observations.     

The influence of cloud structure and droplet concentration on the reflectance of shortwave radiation

The effects of cloud shadowing, channelling, cloud side illumination and droplet concentration are investigated with regard to the reflection of shortwave solar radiation. Using simple geometric clouds, coupled with a Monte Carlo model the transmission properties of idealized cloud layers are found. The clouds are illuminated with direct solar radiation from above. The main conclusion reached is that the distribution of the cloud has a very large influence on the reflectivity of a cloud layer. In particular, if the cloud contains vertical gaps through the cloud layer in which the liquid water content is zero, then, smaller more numerous gaps are more influential on the radiation than fewer, larger gaps with equal cloud fraction. At very low solar zenith angles channelling of the radiation reduces the reflection expected on the basis of the percentage cloud cover. At high solar zenith angles the illumination of the cloud edges significantly increases the reflection despite the shadowing of one cloud by another when the width of the gaps is small. The impact of droplet concentration upon the reflection of cloud layers is also investigated. It is found that at low solar zenith angles where channelling is important, the lower concentrations increase the transmission. Conversely, when cloud edge illumination is dominant the cloud distribution is found to be more important for the higher concentrations.     

Low Visibility Formation and Forecasting on the Northern Coast of Brazil

Visibility analysis and forecast at the Maceio International Airport in the Brazilian Northeast (NEB) was the principal goal of this investigation. Surface meteorological data of the Maceio International Airport were used for low visibility frequency study. Low visibility in NEB was provoked more frequently by light fog (LF) formation (1,098 or 92 h month^?1 on average). Haze and fog were very rare (81 h and one event per year, respectively on average). Light fog with a visibility less than 2 km usually was detected together with rain or drizzle. Low visibility was observed more frequently at night and during the rainy season. Applications of the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model for light fog forecast were tested. Thermodynamic processes were studied by vertical profile, elaborated by: (1) National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data for Maceio (because of some radiosonde absence) and (2) forecast vertical temperature and humidity profiles were produced, using Air Parcels Trajectories of the HYSPLIT model at the pattern levels. The synoptic situations before and during low visibility phenomena were analyzed using different products of NCEP reanalysis, the high resolution (10 km) ETA model and infrared satellite images. Wave disturbance in the trade winds field, localized on the northwest periphery of the South Atlantic subtropical High, usually accompanied the phenomena. A humidity advection, weak ascendant movement and thermal inversion absence at the low levels were created by these waves. The middle level’s descendent movement provoked the humidity accumulation at levels below. Satisfactory results of the HYSPLIT model applications for light fog forecast were obtained with 12 h antecedence. In particular, stable level forecast by the ETA model was forecast satisfactorily with 12 h antecedence; vertical movements were predicted better with up to 48 h antecedence. The PSU/NCAR mesoscale model (MM5) and PAFOG models were tested for analysis and forecast of an intensive fog event. Intensive fog provoked a fatal accident of a small airplane near the Maceio Airport in 2007. These fog formation processes were studied by NCEP reanalysis data, the high resolution regional model MM5, and satellite and radar data. Fog formation was simulated by PAFOG model and satisfactory results were obtained with 10 h antecedence.     

A Comprehensive Dynamic Threshold Algorithm for Daytime Sea Fog Retrieval over the Chinese Adjacent Seas

Sea fog influences human activities over oceans. It is somewhat difficult to separate sea fog from marine boundary stratus (low stratus and stratocumulus) by satellites due to their microphysical similarities and shared spectral features. For the purpose of improving sea fog detection over the Chinese adjacent seas where fog is common during the spring–summer seasons, the vertical structures of fog and stratus were analyzed using ground-based soundings, resulting in the observation of very explicit discrepancies between them, in terms of TAT ? SST (TAT, the temperature at tops of fog or stratus; SST, the sea surface temperature). Based on these discrepancies and on previous related studies, we suggest a comprehensive dynamic threshold algorithm. The method combines real-time brightness temperature from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer channel 31 (~11 μm) with climatological monthly mean SSTs to produce a threshold that is monthly-dependent. The retrieved results are generally consistent with the observations from meteorological stations near the coast, on islands and from ships, and the scores of validation by conventional methods are promising. The distribution patterns of the retrieved sea fog frequency in May and June from 2006 to 2010 are both compatible with that from ship-based observations and exhibit more details that are consistent with our understanding of sea fog characteristics. This study is helpful for marine weather service and the improvement of models for sea fog forecasting.     

Vegetation indices changes in the cloud forest of La Gomera Island (Canary Islands) and their hydrological implications

Vegetation indices derived from remote sensing data still remain to be used for analysing the relationship between climatic factors and vegetation seasonal phenology in middle latitudes with subtropical conditions forests such as the Canarian laurel forest. The Garajonay National Park, located in the La Gomera Island, protects one of the best preserved examples of the Macaronesian laurel forest, due to the cloud banks produced by trade winds, with rainfall and temperature field data showing a clear Mediterranean climatic pattern. We have analysed seasonal vegetation indices trend for different types of forest inside the Garajonay National Park using normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) products derived from moderate resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS) Aqua data for two hydrological years (October 2003 to September 2005) in relationship with the existing field climatic data: rainfall, net fog water and temperature. Maximum annual EVI maps show the highest vegetation indices in the laurel forest of La Gomera that occur during the dry season, mainly in late spring to early summer, with EVI temporal profiles showing that valley‐bottom laurel forest areas have the most clear seasonal trend. Difference maps of EVI values between months with the lowest and highest rainfall of each hydrological year clearly confirm the highest photosynthetic activity in the laurel forest during the dry season. In addition, these forests show a significative temporal correlation between EVI values and the temperature in the forest (p < 0·001). Our results prove the absence of summer drought stress in the laurel forest implying that the fog drip income is high enough to maintain enough soil moisture to allow the forest fully transpire when temperatures are higher. As the laurel forest of La Gomera occurs in the main recharge area of the island's aquifer system, our analysis of EVI data suggests that fog drip constitutes a key hydrological factor. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.