A New Supercooled Liquid Water Content Sonde Compared to Research Flight Data

In-flight icing of aircraft due to the presence of supercooled liquid water is an important aviation safety concern. A new version of a vibrating wire sonde has been developed for the detection of supercooled liquid water content profiles, based on principles developed in the early 1980's by the ATEK corporation. In early 2014, several supercooled liquid water sonde launches were coordinated with University of Wyoming Kingair flights during the Ontario Winter Lake-Effect Systems field campaign in upstate New York. Comparison of the in-situ LWC and other microphysical parameters to data collected by the vibrating wire sonde are discussed.