Fog in Argentinas Lake District

Editor's Note: Todays caption is the answer to Earth Observatorys monthly satellite puzzler.

On the morning of March 29, 1987, the Thematic Mapper on the Landsat 5 satellite captured
this scene of fog lingering in valley bottoms of Argentinas Lake District.

The Lake District, a popular destination for travelers due to its dramatic alpine views and
numerous glacial lakes, is located in the eastern foothills of the Andes, near the Chilean
border. A number of large lakesincluding Villarino, Hermoso, and Meliquinalie below
the fog, out of view. The bright green and pink blotch on the upper left of the image is
missing data. The lower image, acquired by Landsat 5 on February 15, 2001, shows the same
area on a fogless day.

Clouds are fields of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air. Fog is simply a cloud
in contact with the ground. Like all clouds, fog forms when air is cooled enough that the
water vapor within reaches its dew point, the temperature at which vapor condenses into
liquid droplets.

Fog forms in a number of different meteorological circumstances, but the fog shown above is
most likely radiation fog. This common type develops on clear, calm nights as Earths surface
and the air immediately abovecools overnight. Radiation fog is most likely to form when
there is a layer of cool air near the surface and a layer of drier air above it. Since air near the
surface is usually warmer than the air above it, reversals like this are known as temperature
inversions.

In the case of the image above, the steep valleys facilitated the inversion. When air along the
upper slopes of mountains begins to cool after sunset, it becomes dense and heavy, draining
down the mountain slopes toward the valley floors. This cool air piles up in the lowest part of
a valley, and it is there that fog is most likely to form.

The fog boundaries are so sharp because, more than likely, they correspond to a particular
altitude in the terrain, which corresponds to the height of the base of the temperature
inversion, explained Patrick Minnis, a senior research scientist at NASAs Langley Research
Center.

Radiation fog can occur in the absence of underlying water, but in this case the lakes likely
contributed by increasing the humidity near the surface. For the same reason, radiation fog
tends to form in swampy areas or after a heavy rainfalls or snowmelts. It can be quite thick,
posing a threat to boaters and motorists in the morning. However, it is usually short-lived.
When the sun returns in the morning, the air near the surface heats up and fog usually burns
off in a matter of hours.

That texture youre seeing in the fog is caused by convective processes that are starting to
break it up, noted Minnis.

1. Further Reading
 2. Earth Observatory. (2010, February 23) Valley fog in British Columbia. Accessed
November 16, 2012.

3. Earth Science Picture of the Day. (2009, July 1). Radiation fog in Topanga Canyon.
Accessed November 16, 2012.

4. National Geographic. (n.d.) Fog. Accessed November 16, 2012.

5. NOAA. (n.d.) Fog types. Accessed November 16, 2012.

6. Pilar, C. (1991, August). The occurrence of fog in Chile. Journal of Applied

Meteorology

NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using Landsat data
from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Adam Voiland. There were no winners this
month. Stuart, David P., and Michael Osborn were some of the first puzzler players to get
close.