The advection fog characteristics at Qingdao Liuting International Airport during 2000–2022 are studied based on surface observation, sounding and reanalysis data. Surface observation data show that there were two types of fog: evaporation fog (EF) dominated by northwesterly wind in winter and cooling fog (CF) dominated by southeasterly wind in spring and summer. CF is thicker than EF due to different planetary boundary layer (PBL) structures. For EF, the middle and low troposphere are affected by dry and cold air, while CF is affected by warm and moist air below 850 hPa. When EF formed, downdrafts and a positive vertical gradient of the pseudo-equivalent potential temperature indicate stable PBL, surface heat flux is upward from sea to atmosphere and surface wind diverges near the air–sea interface. When CF formed, these characteristics are reversed. Fog is significantly affected by sea–land–atmosphere interactions. The moisture source is mainly from surface fluxes released by the Yellow Sea in the case of EF, while it is from moist air at low latitudes and local land transpiration in the case of CF. The difference in temperature between the sea surface and surface air changes from the range of 0–8 K for EF but from −4–0 K for CF.

The planetary boundary layer (PBL) structure and corresponding stratocumulus (Sc) clouds under different prevailing wind directions over the East China Sea were studied using CloudSat and sounding observations from March–April 2007–2017. The dominant factors affecting the PBL structure and atmospheric response mechanism associated with the Kuroshio sea surface temperature front (SSTF) differed under the three prevailing wind directions. When northeasterly (NE) wind prevails, the opposite spatially high‐pass‐filtered meteorological parameters between the warm tongue and cold pool indicate that the PBL structure is predominantly determined by the SSTF via the sea level pressure adjustment mechanism. However, when northwesterly (NW) and southeasterly (SE) winds prevail, a downward kinetic energy tongue extends from the free atmosphere to the sea surface, indicating that the dynamic PBL structure is predominantly controlled by atmospheric circulation. The (minor) difference in relative humidity between the cold and warm sides indicates that the thermodynamic PBL structure is dominated by the SSTF through the vertical mixing mechanism (by atmospheric circulation) under NW (SE) prevailing wind. Completely different PBL structures lead to different temperature inversion (TI) and Sc cloud characteristics under the three prevailing wind directions. TI mainly occurs as low tropospheric inversion over the warm tongue, while the frequency of near‐surface inversion is large over the cold pool under NE and SE prevailing wind directions. The Sc cloud fraction over the warm tongue is two times larger than that over the cold pool under NE prevailing wind and is the largest (smallest) when NW (SE) wind prevails.

Wind gusts are sudden, brief increases in wind speed that have important implications for wind power generation, building design, aviation and marine safety. However, wind gusts in the Plateau and coastal plain are very different. In this paper, the gust characteristics are explored and compared at two sites in the same latitude—Xining, a city in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, and Qingdao, a city in the coast in China—using Doppler lidar data. The results indicate that the wind gusts in Xining are more intense and occur at a higher height than those in Qingdao. Though mean winds and turbulence significantly influence gusts, the turbulence intensity is responsible for the differences in gust, and high turbulence in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau is inferred. These results provide observational evidence for wind gusts over the complex terrain of the Tibetan Plateau and are useful for studying their impact on important aspects, such as flight safety.

The melting of sea ice in the Arctic has sparked research into how clouds form in exposed ice‐free zones. This study delves into the seasonal distribution of stratocumulus clouds over the Norwegian Sea‐Barents Sea region and presents a conceptual model for the underlying mechanisms. In spring, autumn, and winter, increased surface water vapor flux provides water vapor from the sea surface. Concurrently, warm air enters the area through the southwest wind of the Norwegian Strait. Under conditions of unstable stratification, the water vapor is lifted to the condensation level, promoting the formation of stratocumulus clouds. Conversely, in summer, evaporation is suppressed due to stable stratification, which hinders vertical vapor transport. Enhanced dry advection reduces the transport of water vapor, leading to a decrease in the amount of stratocumulus clouds during summer. This research enriches our understanding of the physical mechanisms influencing cloud formation and cloud‐climate feedbacks in the Arctic region.