Spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of the fog regions in China

The spatial distribution and monthly/annual variation of foggy days in China are analyzed based on the monthly mean fog data collected from 604 observational stations for the period 1961–2000. Results show that there are six fog regions in China: the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, coastal areas, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, eastern Gansu–Shaanxi region, Huaihe River valley, Tianshan mountainous area and northern Xinjiang. On the whole the interannual variation trend of foggy days is descending, especially an obvious decline after the 1980s. The areas where the foggy days have obvious tendency present a southwest-northeast direction. The rising trend regions alternate with descending trend regions, forming a SE-NW directional wave structure. In general, the number of foggy days in autumn and winter is larger than in spring and summer over most fog regions. The monthly variation curves of foggy days are bimodal in the coastal area of the Yellow Sea and northern Xinjiang, and unimodal in other regions.