To Be A World Class Maritime Academy

Visibility

Learning Objective

• To understand the visibility is reduced by

the presence of particles in the atmosphere,
near the earth’s surface.

• To describe the formation of fog.

F. Visibility DNS Semester

DNS Semester 1/ Meteorology
1 / Intro to Intro to Meteorology/Oct 2006
/ October 2006 / 1
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Radiation Fog

• It forms only over land.

• On clear nights, the radiation of heat from

the land surface into the space.

• The air in contact with the ground gets

cooled.

• Air gets cooled below its dew point a large

quantity of dew is deposited.

F. Visibility DNS Semester

DNS Semester 1/ Meteorology
1 / Intro to Intro to Meteorology/Oct 2006
/ October 2006 / 2
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F. Visibility DNS Semester 1 / Intro to Meteorology / October 2006 / 3

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Radiation Fog

• Light breeze is blowing causes the cold from

the land surface to rise a couple of meters
above the ground.

• Land fog results.

• Drift to rivers, harbors, lakes and other

coastal regions.

F. Visibility DNS Semester

DNS Semester 1/ Meteorology
1 / Intro to Intro to Meteorology/Oct 2006
/ October 2006 / 4
 To Be A World Class Maritime Academy

F. Visibility DNS Semester 1 / Intro to Meteorology / October 2006 / 5

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F. Visibility DNS Semester 1 / Intro to Meteorology / October 2006 / 6

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Radiation Fog

• Radiation fog forms over land because of

the large diurnal range of air temperature
over land.

• Reaches its maximum about half hour after

sunrise because air temperature is at its
lowest at that time.

• It dissipates after the sun has shine for a

few hours and the land surface has warmed
up.

F. Visibility DNS Semester

DNS Semester 1/ Meteorology
1 / Intro to Intro to Meteorology/Oct 2006
/ October 2006 / 7
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F. Visibility DNS Semester 1 / Intro to Meteorology / October 2006 / 8

 To Be A World Class Maritime Academy

F. Visibility DNS Semester 1 / Intro to Meteorology / October 2006 / 9

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Advection Fog

• It forms mostly over sea.

• It formed when a warmer moist air blows

over a relatively cold surface of sea or land.

• When the moist air cooled below its dew

point, the excess water vapor condenses
into small droplets of water resulting in
advection fog.

F. Visibility DNS Semester

DNS Semester 1/ Meteorology
1 / Intro to Intro to Meteorology/Oct 2006
/ October 2006 / 10
 To Be A World Class Maritime Academy

Advection Fog

• The wind causes advection fog to form and

also to spread.

• The possible time of occurrence of

advection fog can be predicted.

• Plotting the sea temperature and the dew

point temperature of the air.

F. Visibility DNS Semester

DNS Semester 1/ Meteorology
1 / Intro to Intro to Meteorology/Oct 2006
/ October 2006 / 11
 To Be A World Class Maritime Academy

Advection Fog

• Two curve appears to converge.

• By extending the two lines.

• We can expect to experience advection fog.

F. Visibility DNS Semester

DNS Semester 1/ Meteorology
1 / Intro to Intro to Meteorology/Oct 2006
/ October 2006 / 12
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Temperature ºC Northern Hemisphere

5 Fog

Dewpoint
4 Temperature

0000 0400 0800 1200 1600 2000

Local Mean Time

F. Visibility DNS Semester 1 / Intro to Meteorology / October 2006 / 13

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F. Visibility DNS Semester 1 / Intro to Meteorology / October 2006 / 14

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F. Visibility DNS Semester 1 / Intro to Meteorology / October 2006 / 15

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F. Visibility DNS Semester 1 / Intro to Meteorology / October 2006 / 16