Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon where dust, smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky. The World Meteorological Organization manual of codes includes a classification of horizontal obscuration into categories of fog, ice fog, steam fog, mist, haze, smoke, volcanic ash, dust, sand and snow.[1] Sources for haze particles include farming (ploughing in dry weather), traffic, industry, and wildfires.
Seen from afar (e.g. approaching airplane) and depending upon the direction of view with respect to the sun, haze may appear brownish or bluish, while mist tends to be bluish-grey. Whereas haze often is thought of as a phenomenon of dry air, mist formation is a phenomenon of humid air. However, haze particles may act as condensation nuclei for the subsequent formation of mist droplets; such forms of haze are known as "wet haze."
In the United States and elsewhere, the term "haze" in meteorological literature generally is used to denote visibility-reducing aerosols of the wet type. Such aerosols commonly arise from complex chemical reactions that occur as sulfur dioxide gases emitted during combustion are converted into small droplets of sulfuric acid. The reactions are enhanced in the presence of sunlight, high relative humidity, and stagnant air flow. A small component of wet haze aerosols appear to be derived from compounds released by trees, such as terpenes. For all these reasons, wet haze tends to be primarily a warm-season phenomenon. Large areas of haze covering many thousands of kilometers may be produced under favorable conditions each summer.
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Air pollution [link]
Haze often occurs when dust and smoke particles accumulate in relatively dry air. When weather conditions block the dispersal of smoke and other pollutants they concentrate and form a usually low-hanging shroud that impairs visibility and may become a respiratory health threat. Industrial pollution can result in dense haze, which is known as smog.
Since 1991, haze has been a particularly acute problem in Southeast Asia, Indonesian forest fires burnt to clear land being the reason. In response the 1997 Southeast Asian haze, the ASEAN countries agreed on a Regional Haze Action Plan (1997) and later signed the Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (2002) however the pollution is still a problem today. Under the agreement the ASEAN secretariat hosts a co-ordination and support unit.[2]
In the United States, the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) program was developed as a collaborative effort between the US EPA and the National Park Service in order to establish the chemical composition of haze in National Parks and establish air pollution control measures in order to restore the visibility to pre-industrial levels.[3] Additionally, the Clean Air Act requires that any current visibility problems be remedied, and future visibility problems be prevented, in 156 Class I Federal areas located throughout the United States. A full list of these areas is available on EPA's website.[4]
Obscuration [link]
Haze causes issues in the area of terrestrial photography, where the penetration of large amounts of dense atmosphere may be necessary to image distant subjects. This results in the visual effect of a loss of contrast in the subject, due to the effect of light scattering through the haze particles. For these reasons, sunrise and sunset colors appear subdued on hazy days, and stars may be obscured at night. In some cases, attenuation by haze is so great that, toward sunset, the sun disappears altogether before reaching the horizon. (see example).[5] Haze can be defined as an aerial form of the Tyndall effect therefore unlike other atmospheric effects such as cloud and fog, haze is spectrally selective: shorter (blue) wavelengths are scattered more, and longer (red/infrared) wavelengths are scattered less. For this reason many super-telephoto lenses often incorporate yellow filters or coatings to enhance image contrast.
Infrared (IR) imaging may also be used to penetrate haze over long distances, with a combination of IR-pass optical filters (such as the Wratten 89B) and IR-sensitive detector.
See also [link]
Notes [link]
- ^ WMO Manual on Codes
- ^ ASEAN action hazeonline
- ^ IMPROVE Visibility Program
- ^ Federal Class 1 Areas
- ^ Figure 1. "The setting sun dimmed by dense haze over State College, Pennsylvania on 16 September 1992". "Haze over the Central and Eastern United States". The National Weather Digest. March 1996. https://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/corfidi/haze.html.
External links [link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Haze |
- National Pollutant Inventory - Particulate matter fact sheet
- Haze over the central and eastern United States
- Chemical Composition of Haze in US Natioanl Parks: Views Visibility Database
https://wn.com/Haze
Haze (disambiguation)
Haze may refer to:
Haze may also refer to:
In films
In gaming
In music
In literature
Haze (2005 film)
Haze (ＨＡＺＥ ヘイズ) is a 2005 Japanese thriller/horror film written and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto who also stars in the movie. After appearances at several international festivals in 2005, the film debuted theatrically in Japan on March 4, 2006. Two versions of the film exist: the original release, a short 25 minute version; and what Director Tsukamoto entitled the "Long Version", which runs 49 minutes.
Plot synopsis
A man wakes up in a small concrete space bleeding from the abdomen. He can barely move and has no recollection of why or how he came to be there. Crawling forward he eventually meets a woman and they try to piece together their past lives.
Cast
Film Festivals
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Amba
Amba or AMBA may refer to:
Title
Given name
Languages
Organizations
Other uses
Amba (geology)
An amba (Ge'ez: አምባ āmbā, Tigrinya: እምባ?imbā) is a characteristic geologic form in Ethiopia. It is a steep-sided, flat-topped mountain, often the site of villages, wells and their surrounding farmland. These settlements were located there because they were very defensible and often virtually inaccessible plateaus.
The original term in Amharic indicates a mountain fortress. Amba Geshen, for example, is a historically significant amba where members of royal families were kept under guard for their safety and to prevent their participation in plots against the sitting emperor. Other noted Ambas include Amba Aradam and Amba Alagi, sites of famous battles during the first and second Italo-Abyssinian Wars. In Tigrinya, the term is "Emba" (also spelled "Imba").
In 2008, a scientific mission identified on an amba near Harar, the Kondudo, one of just two feral horse populations in Africa.
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Amba (condiment)
Amba (Arabic: عمبة, Hebrew: עמבה) is a tangy mango pickle condiment popular in Middle Eastern cuisine (particularly Iraqi and Israeli cuisines) but also popular in India. Its name derives from the Sanskrit for mango.
It is typically made of mangoes, vinegar, salt, mustard, turmeric, chili and fenugreek, similarly to savoury mango chutneys.
The name "amba" seems to have been derived from the Sanskrit word "amra", and the mango is a native of India.
Amba is frequently used in Iraqi cuisine, especially as a spicy sauce to be added to fish dishes, falafel, kubbah, kebabs, and eggs.
Amba is popular in Israel, where it was introduced by Iraqi Jews in the 1950s and 1960s. It is often served as a dressing on sabikh and as an optional topping on falafel, meorav yerushalmi, kebab, salads and shawarma sandwiches.
Similarly, Assyrians typically use amba along with falafel, too.
Amba is similar to the South Asian pickle achar. The principal differences are that amba has large pieces of mango rather than small cubes, and that achar also contains oil.
