I am writing a story set in a fantasy world, with an atmosphere similar to Earth's. Would it be possibly to have a forest situated near wetlands which create radiation fog at night, which drifts into the forest and doesn't evaporate because of tree cover? This fog could be added to by ground fog from the forest.

EDIT - I should clarify that I would also appreciate a basic explanation as to why it works, meaning that one line answers aren't what I am looking for.

  • $\begingroup$ Related Question: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/29067/… $\endgroup$ – James Sep 1 '16 at 14:53
  • $\begingroup$ @James - That deals more with the issues of having large amounts of fog, not the creation of the fog. Thanks though! $\endgroup$ – C Anderson Sep 1 '16 at 14:56
  • $\begingroup$ Agreed, but it may be useful to you. $\endgroup$ – James Sep 1 '16 at 14:59
  • $\begingroup$ Oh. Reading through the answers, I see some things to help my plot progress. Thanks! $\endgroup$ – C Anderson Sep 1 '16 at 15:02

I think there are a few ways this could be handled.

As suggested by Molot, one easy (probably the easiest) way is to have the forest itself exist at cloud level, as forests on mountains might. The forest area would need to have the right climate balance - not too cold (clouds turn to rain) and not too hot (clouds would lift up higher) - and the geography would have to support it with a large, warm body of water nearby... but I'm sure there are many places on Earth that fit that bill, so it's no stretch for it to be possible.

The more interesting challenge is creating an area that does not use clouds, but instead creates its own fog.

One idea along those lines would perhaps be to have a large reservoir of underground water, and trees which have evolved to "sweat" that water out (for some reason). Effectively, this could create a situation where there is nearly perpetual "dew" everywhere to create fog with - at least during the day. The temperature in that situation could, I think, be pretty bearable. With all that moisture there would also either be a lot of rain in the area, or somewhere pretty nearby (as defined by wind speed). The closer the rain is in the area, the more likely it may be for clouds to be in the area to descend on the forest at night to create fog then as well.

Another idea is perhaps an area where trees have grown relatively tall and with quite dense canopy cover. In that area there are also a number of natural springs and areas of hot ground (very hot natural hot springs may be the easier/more likely solution). If the tree cover is sufficiently dense it could do a decent job of trapping the resulting steam, though admittedly it would also be quite hot.

  • $\begingroup$ I like the idea of underwater reservoir. Beyond the evolved trees, an underwater reservoir would keep the ground cooler during the day, because water has a high thermal mass. Therefore, when the ground cools during the night, the water will gradually cool. Then when day comes, the already naturally cooled ground is kept cooler. $\endgroup$ – C Anderson Sep 2 '16 at 17:44
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    $\begingroup$ Yes it is indeed possible. Cloud forests are a real habitat: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_forest $\endgroup$ – DrBob Sep 4 '16 at 11:45

It would have to be constantly cool and constantly humid.

a setting example would be a valley that never sees direct sun light and gets a constant feed of moist air blowing off an ocean.


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