Aircraft Icing Research Advances in the Terminal Area using ICICLE Field Campaign Data

In early 2019, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aviation Weather Research Program (AWRP) sponsored an international field campaign, the In-Cloud Icing and Large-drop Experiment (ICICLE), with the goal of collecting observations in a variety of icing conditions at the surface and aloft to further the understanding of icing environments, to compare these observations to output from existing icing products (e.g., Current Icing Product, or CIP) and to assist in the development of new icing products. The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Convair-580 research aircraft was used to collect in-situ and remote observations of icing conditions aloft, while supplemental surface observations from sensors deployed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) at five airports across the Midwestern U.S. provided enhanced observations of icing conditions near the surface. In total, the Convair-580 collected approximately 120 hours of observations in small drop, freezing drizzle, and freezing rain environments, as well as mixed phase and non-icing environments.

Following the ICICLE field campaign, the FAA Terminal Area Icing Weather Information for NextGen (TAIWIN) research project team began analysis of some of the data collected to evaluate new methods and techniques for detecting icing conditions specific to the airport terminal area (defined as a 30 nautical mile radius around the airport and extending to 12,000 ft above ground level). An initial terminal area icing diagnostic and forecasting capability has been developed, and analysis of the ICICLE data by the TAIWIN research team directly influenced the TAIWIN capability algorithm development and continues to do so. This presentation will focus on the research advances made by the TAIWIN research team with regards to diagnosing and forecasting icing conditions within the terminal area and the ongoing research using the ICICLE data.

This research is in response to requirements and funding by the FAA. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the FAA.