Comparison of passive fog gauges for determining fog duration and fog interception by a Puerto Rican elfin cloud forest

Between 5 March and 10 May 2001, the performance of three types of passive fog gauges (wire harp WH, standard fog collector SC and Juvik gauge JU) was compared at a wind-exposed Puerto Rican elfin cloud forest site. The gauges were used to determine the timing and duration of fog, as well as fog-induced crown drip using gauge to canopy conversions factors. The latter were calculated as the average ratio between throughfall, and fog collected by the respective gauges during periods with fog-only and negligible evaporation loss. The fog gauges indicated very similar timing and fog duration, presumably because dense fog prevailed for 75-80% of the time whereas winds were generally sufficiently strong (4-5 m s