Sea smoke, frost smoke, or steam fog is

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

which is formed when very cold air moves over warmer water. Arctic sea smoke is sea smoke forming over small patches of open water in

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice, which has an even lower density). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oce ...

. It forms when a light

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

of very cold air mixes with a shallow layer of saturated warm air immediately above the warmer water. The warmer air is cooled beyond the dew point and can no longer hold as much water

vapor In physics, a vapor (American English) or vapour (British English and Canadian English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is a substance in the gas phase at a temperature lower than its critic ...

, so the excess

condenses Condensation is the change of the state of matter from the gas phase into the liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. The word most often refers to the water cycle. It can also be defined as the change in the state of water vapor to ...

out. The effect is similar to the "steam" produced over a hot bath or a hot drink, or even an exercising person. Sea smoke has a turbulent appearance and may form spiralling columns.H. U. Roll, ''Physics of the marine atmosphere'', p. 359, Academic Press, 1965 . It is usually not very high and lookouts on ships can usually see over it (but small boats may have very poor visibility)Hank Halsted, "Fog", ''Motorboating and Sailing'', pp. 41-42, August 1982 because the fog is confined to the layer of warm air above the sea. However, sea smoke columns 20–30 m (70–100 ft) high have been observed. Because this type of fog requires very low air temperatures, it is uncommon in temperate climates, but is common in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

and

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

See also

References

Further reading