On the usage of Satellite derived products in ADWICE for Diagnosing In-Flight Aircraft Icing over Europe

Icing conditions cannot be explicitly predicted because they involve specific and rare occurrences of cloud microphysical parameters that are presently not accounted for in weather forecast models. Empirical techniques, such as the German post-processing model ADWICE (Advanced Diagnosis and Warning system for aircraft Icing Environments), operated by Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), are therefore required to diagnose and forecast icing conditions for aviation. Forecasting of icing conditions with ADWICE relies on predicted meteorological fields from the DWD-operated COSMO-EU model (7 km spatial resolution, T+78h range). In addition, the diagnostic part of ADWICE represents the actual icing condition. It is based on radar information, ground observations from SYNOP and METAR and, in a newer version, additionally on satellite derived METEOSAT 10 products (www.nwcsaf.org). Here, the influence of four satellite derived products (cloud mask, cloud phase, cloud top temperature and cloud top height) on diagnosing aircraft icing conditions is presented. Verification results show a significant reduction of observed overforecasting, whereas hit rate and correct rejection rate do not degrade.