ELI5: What is sea smoke?

Imagine you're outside on a very cold day, like when it's freezing! You breathe out, and you see a little cloud of your breath. That's because your breath is warmer than the cold air, so the water in your breath turns into tiny water droplets we can see.

Sea smoke is kind of the same idea, but bigger and happening over the ocean!

Here's how it works:

• The ocean water is warmer than the very cold air above it. This usually happens in winter or early spring.
• Some of the warm water from the ocean evaporates, meaning it turns into a gas called water vapor.
• When this water vapor hits the super cold air, it quickly cools down and turns back into tiny water droplets or even tiny ice crystals.
• These tiny water droplets and ice crystals float in the air, making a fog-like mist right above the water's surface. This is sea smoke!

Think of it like this:

• Warm water is like a hot bath.
• Cold air is like stepping out of the bath into a chilly room.
• Sea smoke is the steam you see rising from the bath, but on a much larger scale.