haze

A lithometeor consisting of the suspension in the atmosphere of non-aqueous solid particles (dust, sand, ash), in a quantity sufficient to cloud the air and reduce visibility. If visibility at Earth's surface level is reduced and the relative humidity of the air is below 70%, there is calima, but if it is above 70% the observed or forecast phenomenon will be bruma (mist) (according to AEMET's technical criteria). Calima gives the sky an earthy color (ochre, brownish, yellowish, orange, reddish), which varies depending on the nature of the terrain from which the particles escaped and on the sunlight. The greater or lesser opacity it generates depends both on the concentration of particles and on their hygroscopic capacity. Based on the latter, a distinction is made between dry calima and wet calima. A particular case of the latter is the so-called salt calima, caused by the presence of minuscule sea-salt particles, originating from the evaporation of sea spray escaping from the sea surface. Both the term calima and its variants calina and calisma have their etymological origin in the Latin word caligo, which means darkness, from which caligino, calígine, and caliginoso also derive.