Geographia Polonica (2004) vol. 77, iss. 1

The distribution of fog frequency in the carpathians

Marek Błaś, Mieczysław Sobik

Geographia Polonica (2004) vol. 77, iss. 1, pp. 19-34 | Full text

Abstract

Altitude is one of the predominant factors which controls the annual number of days with fog (NDF). The second important factor influencing NDF is station location in regard to circulation patterns and distance from the sea. NDF depends also on terrain morphology at a given station site and in its wider neighbourhood, island-mountain of morphology or a position on the windward side of a larger massif. Special attention is paid to stations in convex landforms where orographic fog caused by the forced ascent of moist air occurs frequently. The large NDF (highest away from the Hercynian Mts) observed in the Carpathians suggest that this region is characterised by an important additional potential water flux in the form of horizontal precipitation. Depending on land use, this could play an important role in pollutant deposition, as it does in the Hercynian Mts.

Keywords: fog frequency, fog deposition, fog distribution, fog-annual variations, Carpathians, mountain climatology

Marek Błaś [blasm@meteo.uni.wroc.pl], Department of Meteorology and Climatology, University of Wrocław, Kosiby 8, 51-670 Wrocław, Poland
Mieczysław Sobik [sobik@meteo.uni.wroc.pl], Department of Meteorology and Climatology, University of Wrocław, Kosiby 8, 51-670 Wrocław, Poland