A Coupled Numerical Modeling Study of a Sea Fog Case After the Passage of Typhoon Muifa Over the Yellow Sea in 2011

Abstract

AbstractSatellite remote sensing data revealed a widespread sea fog event over the central/southern Yellow Sea (YS), following Typhoon Muifa passage in August 2011. Despite the importance of sea fog prediction for coastal safety, improving accuracy remains a challenging issue. By analyzing results from air‐sea coupled and uncoupled simulations, this study aims to investigate how the air‐sea coupling improves the sea fog formation and duration and examine atmospheric responses to spatiotemporally varying sea surface temperature (SST) over the YS. Unlike the uncoupled model, the SST simulated by the coupled model dramatically decreased and maintained its low temperature for more than a week after the typhoon passed over the YS, showing better agreement with the observations. The sharp SST decrease over the YS cools the air temperature at low‐level atmosphere and enhances horizontal convergence in the moisture flux over the cooler ocean, which provides favorable conditions for sea fog formation. The long‐lasting oceanic cooling stabilizes the atmospheric boundary layer and suppresses atmospheric vertical mixing, delaying the dissipation of sea fog for more than a week. This study highlights that air‐sea coupling can improve the sea fog simulation by providing more realistic oceanic conditions.