Identification

Title

Comparing precipitation particle sizes and phases from the surface to aloft during the In-Cloud Icing and Large-Drop Experiment (ICICLE)

Abstract

Precipitation sizes and types can vary significantly throughout an airport’s terminal airspace and pose a significant threat to aircraft safety. When an aircraft encounters supercooled drops, ice can accrete on the critical surfaces of the plane, resulting in decreased performance. This can be particularly problematic on takeoff and landing when it can limit a pilot’s options for escaping the hazard and/or removing ice buildup. By establishing relationships between hydrometeor sizes with height above ground, it may be possible to improve the diagnosis and forecasting of icing conditions within the terminal area knowing the ground-based observations of particle sizes. In this study, in situ and ground-based measurements of particle phase and size are compared to explore their horizontal and vertical variations within the terminal area. In situ microphysical data from five flights conducted during the In-Cloud Icing and Large-Drop Experiment (ICICLE) were used for this study. Ground-based in situ measurements of hydrometeor size and phase were also collected at stations collocated with airports in the region. In the stratiform cloud cases analyzed, the ground observations of precipitation aligned extremely well with the trends of the particle sizes observed aloft. In the convective cases, however, particle size at the surface differed by as much as 1.5 mm when compared to trends of particle sizes measured aloft. The type of cloud was found to be relevant to the spatial variations in particle size and phase. The challenges associated with using ground-based measurements to discern possible aircraft icing aloft are discussed.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7c53r9j

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2025-05-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact