Can Sea Fog be Inferred from Operational GEM Forecast Fields?

Three cases of widespread sea fog in Lunenburg Bay, Nova Scotia were used to evaluate the suitability of operational regional GEM forecast fields for inferring advection fog occurrences. Verification scores suggest that the objective analyses contain significant departures from observations that will affect model accuracy, given the sensitivity of fog condensation microphysics. Dew point depression (ES) scores show larger differences compared to temperature, with both influenced by surface characteristics. For objective analyses and GEM forecasts ES < 2 C seems to match fog satellite images better than the physical threshold ES £ 0 C. In addition the GEM forecasts show a general tendency towards drier conditions near the surface, therefore reconfiguring GEM to better represent condensation in the boundary layer is proposed.