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Rita Crane Photography: Foggy Summer Morning, Mendocino Coast

The fog -- also known as the marine layer -- hovers along the Western coast of the U.S. in summer and protects this special ecological niche from the scorching heat that exists inland. All the plants and trees depend on it including the mighty redwoods that thrived for millenia along the Pacific Northwest despite the Mediterranean climate where rainless summers are the norm.

 

The thick fog develops as the hot summer sun creates condensation over the ocean, then this 'marine layer' rolls in and blankets the coast with its protective, nourishing shield of life-sustaining moisture. I am grateful for this cooling effect, and given climate change, am now calling it "angel mist". I hope indeed that it will protect this beautiful region of California from desertification in the decades ahead.

 

I'm also grateful to the marine layer for the wondrous mood it creates: it calms the soul during these difficult times on the planet, and is so visually mysterious and magical.

 

Notice too, the legendary "golden grasses of California". The green turns to gold shortly after the last winter rains.

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Uploaded on August 2, 2020
Taken on July 26, 2020