A water resource that floats

Submerged in fog, hardly anything could be seen, until the early morning sun rays lifted the fog.

In place were dew drops on leaves and underneath the bushes were wetness on the soil and that is when the scene became clearer — the Arabian oryx and ghazals gently sipped the dew drops. The birds chirped too indicating the importance of fog.

Fog is an important natural phenomenon.

This weekend when Ahmed drove to a mosque for prayer he had to take extra care.

“I was going for my Fajr prayer and it was very foggy. We are in Shinas and close to the sea. I think this has been the case with Suhar too,” he said.

Musandam has been looking foggy, said a photographer. “Cannot tell if it is dust or fog but it was difficult to take pictures or videos,” he pointed out.

The interesting factor is that for fog to form, according to experts, dust or any other air pollution is also required.

And another factor is the Oman Met Office has stated while it will be mainly clear skies over most of the governorates, there are chances of low level clouds or fog patches at late night or early morning over parts of the Arabian Sea and over parts of Al Wusta and the coastal areas of Dhofar and Musandam governorates.

To distinguish whether it is haze or fog the timing of the day provides a significant clue.

Fog formed at dawn on Sunday in parts of the South Al Sharqiyah Governorate (Jaalan Bani Bu Hassan and Jaalan Bani Bu Ali) and in the central part (Haima, Ja’louni and Zamayem) and near Bahja and Mukhaizna, “Where the relative humidity at the sixth and seventh hours reached 100 per cent, as the temperature equalled the dew point Haima 22ºC and in other places 23ºC.”

Of course one has to be cautious with fog formations as it can cause a decrease in the level of horizontal visibility at times during late night and early morning. And the alert is for over parts of the governorates of South Al Sharqiyah, Al Wusta, Dhofar and parts of the coasts of the governorates of North Al Batinah, South Al Batinah and Muscat.

The weather expert at Oman Met Office said, “When the humidity is high it is natural to have fog formation.”

This also means that for the formation of fog there has to be lot of water vapour content in the air. In addition, invariably there would be dust needed for the fog formation.

The weather expert explained further, “The south west coast has more chance for fog. It is very difficult to distinguish between haze and fog. Sometimes it is like mist if the visibility is between 5,000m to 1,000m, if it is less than 1,000m then we call it fog.”

Fog has its potential.

The khareef season in Salalah brings a lot of fog over the mountains.

Researchers have explained the potential to tap the fog as an alternative source of water. The monsoon season is from the mid June to mid September and experts are in the opinion that they could be substantial volumes of water that could be saved and utilised for domestic use and small scale farming on the mountains. This fog catchments have been on discussions and trials.

Even otherwise fog water is precious in feeding the aquifer especially the coastal aquifers, combating the certification and for the sustainability of forests.