Li et al. (2025) Spatiotemporal fog origins in a foggy desert through integrating isotope and satellite observations

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Hydrology
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-28
• Authors: Yue Li, Na Qiao, Eugène Marais, Gillian Maggs‐Kölling, Yi Liu, Lixin Wang
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.134643

Research Groups

• Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Indiana University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, United States of America
• Gobabeb – Namib Research Institute, Walvis Bay, Namibia
• School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi University, Nanning, China

Short Summary

This study establishes a new framework integrating isotope and satellite observations to identify the spatiotemporal origins of fog in the Namib Desert, revealing an increasing trend of locally generated fog over time at Gobabeb and distinct spatial patterns across the central Namib Desert.

Objective

• To establish a new framework that integrates isotope- and satellite-based observations to identify the spatiotemporal origins of fog by analyzing its moisture composition and evolution patterns, addressing the limited understanding due to scarce integrated ground and satellite observations.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Central Namib Desert, including a specific site at Gobabeb. Analysis covers patterns from the coast to inland areas and from north to south.
• Temporal Scale: Decade-long (2014–2023) for fog isotope data at Gobabeb; 2020–2023 for ground-validated satellite-derived fog detections across the central Namib Desert.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: A new framework integrating isotope-based analyses and satellite-based observations for moisture composition and evolution pattern analysis.
• Data sources:
  • Stable isotope data from a decade-long fog dataset (2014–2023) collected at Gobabeb.
  • Ground-validated satellite-derived fog detections (2020–2023) covering the central Namib Desert.

Main Results

• The proportion of locally generated fog derived from isotope and satellite data shows good alignment across the central Namib Desert at a broad regional scale.
• Isotope-based analyses at Gobabeb indicate an increasing trend in locally generated fog from 2014 to 2023, signifying its growing importance as a moisture source.
• Satellite-based observations reveal a significant decrease in locally generated fog from the coast to inland areas and from north to south across the central Namib Desert between 2020 and 2023 (p < 0.01).

Contributions

• Establishes a novel framework that integrates stable isotope and satellite observations, providing a comprehensive approach to identify spatiotemporal fog origins.
• Offers critical insights into climatological and spatiotemporal assessments of fog origins, particularly relevant in the context of global warming.
• Addresses the existing knowledge gap concerning spatiotemporal fog origins due to the lack of coherent ground and satellite observations.

Funding

Not mentioned in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Li2025Spatiotemporal,
  author = {Li, Yue and Qiao, Na and Marais, Eugène and Maggs‐Kölling, Gillian and Liu, Yi and Wang, Lixin},
  title = {Spatiotemporal fog origins in a foggy desert through integrating isotope and satellite observations},
  journal = {Journal of Hydrology},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.134643},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.134643}
}