Standard Fog Collector Measurements Along the Central and Northern California Coast During the 2014 and 2015 Fog Seasons

Abstract:

Since 2014 an extensive network of standard fog collectors has been deployed along the coast of California, from as far south as southern Big Sur (36.1° N) to as far north as Arcata (40.8° N) at over a dozen sites that contain a total of several dozen of the fog collecting devices. This research is being done in conjunction with the Fognet Project that is looking at the levels of monomethyl mercury in fog water.

Data collected reveal a fascinating variability in the amount of fog water collected across different scales of distance, elevation, time and location. In addition, a number of different types of mesh have been deployed and co-located to examine the variation in their fog water collecting capability in identical conditions. Mesh variations exhibit smaller variability across mesh type than had previously been expected.

This study documents results found thus far across the network and also discusses the quantification of the errors associated with tipping bucket rain gauge measurements of water volumes and thus the importance of tipping bucket rain gauge calibration.