Rauschenbach et al. (2026) A characterization of local spatio-temporal variability in daytime occurrence of fog along the Oregon coast using public cameras and airport weather metrics

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-06-24
• Authors: Sonya Rauschenbach, John B. Kim, Alex W. Dye, I. C. Faloona, R. Cotton Rockwood, Christopher J. Still, Kyaw Tha Paw U, Adele L. Igel
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111315

Research Groups

• Atmospheric Science Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
• USDA Forest Service Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center, Corvallis, OR, USA
• Department of the Oregon State Fire Marshal, Analytics and Intelligence Unit, Salem, OR, USA
• Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
• Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

Short Summary

This study used publicly available coastal imagery data sets to detect fog presence at low cost along the Oregon coast. The results showed that the timing of fog occurrence and the overall fog frequency varied across locations, but had a moderate linear relationship with airport fog measurements.

Objective

• Characterize the spatio-temporal patterns of daytime fog frequency along the Oregon coast.
• Evaluate the representativeness of ASOS station fog observations for surrounding coastal areas.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Local to regional scale, covering 150 km distance along the Oregon coast.
• Temporal Scale: Daily to seasonal time periods, with a focus on summer months (May to September).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Gaussian Process classification model for fog detection from public webcams.
• Data sources: Public coastal imagery data sets, ASOS station surface weather metrics.

Main Results

• The fog frequency varied significantly across sites, with Yaquina Head having the highest frequency (19%) and Cannon Beach having the lowest (7%).
• The diurnal cycle of fog occurrence showed peak frequencies in morning hours and a decrease throughout the day.
• Fog occurrence was spatially variable between camera sites and ONP, with most pairwise correlations less than 0.4.

Contributions

• This study provides a novel approach to detect fog using public webcams along the Oregon coast, increasing the spatial coverage of fog trends.
• The results highlight the importance of considering local topography and surrounding features when characterizing fog patterns.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Rauschenbach2026characterization,
  author = {Rauschenbach, Sonya and Kim, John B. and Dye, Alex W. and Faloona, I. C. and Rockwood, R. Cotton and Still, Christopher J. and U, Kyaw Tha Paw and Igel, Adele L.},
  title = {A characterization of local spatio-temporal variability in daytime occurrence of fog along the Oregon coast using public cameras and airport weather metrics},
  journal = {Agricultural and Forest Meteorology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111315},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111315}
}