Marine fog impacts human health, naval strategy, and biological productivity. Despite itsimportance, the skill of operational and global environmental models in forecasting marine fog
and its optical properties remain limited due to our incomplete understanding of the physical
processes that drive fog, particularly over its broad range of temporal and spatial scales. The
Gulf Stream and the Labrador Sea currents meet in Atlantic Canada and the Grand Banks off
Newfoundland, Canada, making it a productive region for biodiversity with a wide range of
physical oceanographic features present. This region has one of the two highest fog occurrences
in the world (Dorman et al., 2020). In this work, we present findings from a 71-year climatological
analysis covering a broad range of spatial and temporal scales. Using ICOADS observations
from 1950-2020, ERA5 reanalysis products, and satellite imagery, we discuss fog formation and
annihilation in this region. Spatially, the Atlantic Canada continental shelf induces submesoscale
ocean features along its rapid variation in bathymetry. These structures influence the fog life
cycle. Sharp sea surface temperature gradients and air-sea temperature differences coincide with
the over-the-shelf fog maxima in summer (June, July and August). The air-sea temperature
differences show a clear signal that fog occurrence is higher with negative air-sea temperature
differences (SST - air temperature). This higher occurrence of fog is mainly isolated on the
continental shelf, where colder SST typically exists. Temporally, climatological trends confirm
correlations between air-sea temperature differences and high fog occurrence within sample
regions on and off-shelf. Satellite imagery of a fog event during the 2022 ONR FATIMA
MURI campaign highlights the complicated interplay of shelf break dynamics and near-surface
atmospheric conditions. A fog bank is shown to form in the colder water regions over the shelf,
outlining the shelf break and pointing to boundary layer and smaller-scale processes that are
driving fog formation. These observations are crucial in characterizing the spatial and temporal
structure of the fog life cycle and provide a better understanding of fog occurrence in this region.