A Method for simple and accurate estimation of fog deposition in a mountain forest using a meteorological model

Katata, Genki; Kajino, Mizuo*; Hiraki, Takatoshi*; Aikawa, Masahide*; Kobayashi, Tomiki*; Nagai, Haruyasu  

To apply the meteorological model to investigate fog occurrence, acidification, and deposition in mountain forests, the meteorological model WRF was modified to calculate the fog deposition by the simple linear function of fog deposition onto vegetation. The modified version of WRF that includes fog deposition (fog-WRF) was tested in a mountain forest of Mt. Rokko in Japan. The fog-WRF provided a clearly better prediction of liquid water content of fog (LWC) than the original version of WRF. The fog-WRF successfully simulated measured throughfall observations due to fog deposition inside the forest. Using the linear relationship between fog deposition and the altitude given by the fog-WRF calculations and the data from throughfall observations at the certain altitude, vertical distribution of fog deposition can be roughly estimated in mountain forest. The meteorological model that includes the fog deposition is useful for mapping the fog deposition in mountain cloud forests.