In the early hours of January 15, layers of thick fog prevailed in the atmosphere that led the authorities to suspend ferry services to North-Guwahati.
About the suspension:
The suspension of ferry services has led to disappointment of the pilgrims and people who had plans of visiting various temples in the city on the occasion of Magh Bihu.
The authorities have announced that the services will remain suspended until the weather doesn’t get cleared.
Why and how does fog occur:
Fog occurs more frequently over urban areas than rural areas. It may occur due to increased air pollution emanating from a variety of sources in the urban areas. The increased pollution levels may lead to the atmospheric reactions resulting into the formation of secondary pollutants that may also lead to the needed cloud condensation nuclei.
The reduction in visibility is due to tiny water droplets suspended in the air. The thickest fog tends to occur in urban/industrial areas where there are many pollutant particles acting as nuclei for the water droplets.
Fog is more likely to form in an environment with large concentrations of aerosols characterized by a low activation supersaturation. Organic compounds change the surface tension of pure water and can cause cloud condensation nuclei activation at lower relative humidity than that which is possible in the atmosphere of unpolluted regions.
Laboratory experiments have indicated that pollution/aerosol has a strong effect for fog formation in favorable meteorological conditions.
