Mysterious Fog in Cobalt Forest in the Afternoon
Outdoor Ontario

Mysterious Fog in Cobalt Forest in the Afternoon


Dr. John

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I was just in Temiskaming Shores this weekend. Which path was this?


Didn’t see much this weekend other than a snowshoe hare and many corvids. And a poor roadkill moose this morning.


Shortsighted

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Excellent choice of a subject for your short video.  You can really sniff them out.  While thrilling and daring subjects seem to be the diet of the medium, a brief video explaining a phenomenon, really any fundamental yet profound characteristic of nature, survives in memory in a much more enduring way because its example can be used as a tool in future in related circumstances.

As I see it, there are two very essential concepts demonstrated by your video that are not well-understood by the general public.  The most basic of these is an understanding of a property of water (the medium of life) called heat capacity and the other is really an example of an ancient practice that seems to have been forgotten these days in the urgency of profit over the logic of conservation of precious water aquifers.  The two are actually somewhat related.  It takes a great deal of heat to melt ice and in your example that ice as heat sink has managed to lower the ambient temperature enough to feel it on your skin.  It also makes it impossible for the humid air to retain its moisture in an invisible state and therefore it condenses into fog because the air can't hold it at the lower temperature close to the mine entrance.  The reverse is also true.  For ice to form it must liberate a great deal of heat.  The formation of ice on L. Ontario in winter moderates the coast some distance inland.  The high heat capacity of the elixir of life, in part, makes our various climate(s) possible as heat is collected in a phase change and then deposited elsewhere in a reverse phase change.

The other issue is the essential nature of caves, cracks and crevices and any means of diverging rain water, and melt-water away from useless rapid torrents to sites for percolation into aquifers where it does the most good.  Even underground ice, in summer, is a boon to a precious aquifer.  In many places around the world the local aquifers are depleted and so the ground is drying out, shrinking, sinking as it does so, and this subsidence takes along everything that is built above it.  Then there is the loss of drinking water due to the aquifer depletion caused by water pumped out for irrigation.  The mines and caves that might exist near Cobalt are essential because the ground is mostly solid rock which does not allow surface water to percolate down to an aquifer.  Even ancient societies knew enough to dig ditches and aqueducts to bring runoff into areas better suited to replenish aquifers.  These people were not stupid.  Stupid hadn't even been invented yet.  They understood conservation and didn't need to fight lobby groups that stood in the way of it in the search for immediate profit.  Your video should be shown in schools  ... professor Charline.   Bravo!


Charline

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I was just in Temiskaming Shores this weekend. Which path was this?


Didn’t see much this weekend other than a snowshoe hare and many corvids. And a poor roadkill moose this morning.


You are lucky! I have been there many times and never seen a moose, alive or dead. I did see many birds, including a ruffed grouse family, many northern flickers including the parents and young and others.


The bat caged cave is near the Little Vein along the Heritage Silver Trail. If you continue on the path, you will get to the location.


The gentleman went back to see it again the next day. There was no fog.


In addition to what SS explained, there were two more important elements. First, it rained earlier so the air was hot and humid in the location, and cold air met the hot humid air and the condensation formed, and second, there was no wind, so the fog lingered near the cave.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2024, 03:14:37 PM by Charline »


Charline

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Professor SS, thanks for the great lecture!  ;)


Dr. John

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Because I go up monthly, I have more chance to see things. I average one moose per year - saw one a bit earlier this year.  I also saw a mother black bear and her cub a few months ago.  I definitely see ruffed grouse.


If you are up there again, I recommend the hike to Devil's Rock.  It takes you to the top of a 300-foot cliff overlooking Lake Temiskaming.  I often see peregrine falcons there.  Bald eagles nest on the lake and I have seen them occasionally.


Charline

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Dr. John, yes, I have been to Devil's Rock twice, once in the summer in 2022, another time autumn 2023, if my memory is correct.


Next time if I go, I wish I could find a boat which will take me to the bottom of the rock cliff. A bus driver did promise me that he would take me with his boat. Don't know if I can make it this fall, because I feel very tired after each trip.


Here is the link to a short video. [size=78%]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7hIuiFVmXM[/size]


When I shot the clips, I did not plan to make a video out of them. I was and still am inexperienced in making story-telling videos. If I do it again, I can probably do a better job.


Dr. John

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Looks like you had a lovely fall day in the video.