Thread: A Fog Planet? What attributes would it have?

How could a planet in another solar system have a breathable temperate atmosphere, lots of swamps(spongy vegetation), and a large portion of land thats virtually always covered in fog (or equivalent like low clouds etc)?
It could also be a venus to earth sized moon orbiting a gas giant if that makes it easier, have volcanos or gysers?


My guess is there would need to be a lot of water at least as much as earth, and not be too close to the sun (otherwise its too hot to be temperate for humans) and not too far otherwise it becomes an ice planet?

So noone has a clue, idea or a bone to throw?

no - not a clue
not even the foggiest

Well first of all fog forms when a layer of warm moist air becomes trapped under a layer of colder air. The cold air causes the moisture to condense forming fog. To have a state of continual fog you will need conditions that allow this to occur. A low lying valley between high mountains would work and a large body of water will need to be present as well. To make it work on a planetary scale as in the whole thing fog shrouded you may have to consider increased atmospheric density. I remember seeing something about early earth during the jurrasic or triasic that the oxygen content and moisture levels were much higher. I would consider researching regions of earth that have continual fog banks. Such as the west coast and the areas around the great lakes. I lived near lake superior on the west shore and we got amazing fog rolling through town in the late summer and autumn.

Fog over a limited area is easy to manage but on a planetary scale more difficult to immagine. A greater proportion of the planet being water covered might lead to more cloud cover. But would that equal more fog?

What about if a planet with a greater air density and moisture had continents with tons of underground lakes and a surface covered by vegetation filled swamps and marshes in which there were gysers and thermal vents at the bottom (add methane or bioactivity). You might have warm water vapors rising from the marches with colder(I guess) air above, so you might get fog? If such a planet was in close proximity to a gas giant maybe forces would help sustain the activity producing gysers and vents or giant worms burrowing very deep in the ground could facilitate the formation of gysers?

The tidal forces of close proximity to the gas giant could cause increased tectonic activity. If you have a lot of thermal vents that would certainly contribute.