Introduction ice fog, ice clouds, and remote sensing

• Published in: Pure and Applied Geophysics
• Other Authors: Gultepe, Ismail (author), Heymsfield, Andrew J. (author)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-016-1380-2

Developing a better understanding of ice fog and ice clouds, utilizing remote sensing and in situ observations, is important for improving numerical weather predictions (NWPs) and climate simulations of these events. Low visibility conditions due to low-level ice clouds (including ice fog) are a societal hazard, affecting infrastructure and human life -- for example, transportation, aviation, marine environments, and overall sporting activities. In this context, hazards are considered as processes that produce danger to human life and infrastructure. Cold fog and ice clouds are important components of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) processes that include nucleation of ice crystals, radiation effects on ice crystal growth, mixing processes, physical parameterizations, autoconversion processes, synoptic scale cooling processes, and surface–ocean–atmosphere interactions. Due to the complexity of these processes and their nonlinear interactions, our understanding of cold fog and ice clouds still remains incomplete and complex in its physics. Considering ice fog as an ice cloud touching the Earth’s surface suggests that variability and scale issues are also important for their predictions; therefore, their impact on NWP predictions and climate change analysis is still a premature subject. This special issue of the Journal of Pure and Applied Geophysics (PAGEOPH) contains 14 papers related to ice fog/cloud physics and dynamics, instruments used for their measurements, ice cloud modeling, visibility, precipitation, fog climatology, and cloud remote sensing. Results discussed in this special issue are generated by research efforts among multinational team efforts, conducted globally. Results from the following international projects are included in this special issue: The MATERHORN (Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations; Fernando et al. 2015) Project and SAAWSO (Satellite Applications for Arctic Weather for SAR (Search and Rescue) Operations; Gultepe et al. 2016a) Project. These projects have ...