Planes flying over airports during a storm cause up to TEN TIMES more snow to fall, scientists find
- Scientists have found that planes flying over airport could increase snowfall
- Parts of the UK have experienced freezing temperatures this week
- Manchester Airport closed on Wednesday morning because of the snowfall
- 2,600 flights were cancelled in America this week due to freezing temperatures
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Planes flying through clouds increase the amount of snowfall by up to ten times, scientists claim.
The way the plane and its wings go through the clouds creates a chemical reaction, which makes it rain or snow.
This process normally occurs during take-off and landing.
Snow has killed 13 people in the USA with the polar vortex and it has gripped the UK this week, causing major transport problems.
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Scans in Helsinki showed more precipitation over the flight path of Helsinki airport. The yellow patches are areas of increased rainfall (pictured). The phenomena only occurs in ‘supercooled’ clouds that are made of extremely cold water droplets
‘The interesting thing about this feature is that it is caused by aircraft, but it is not caused by pollution,’ said Dimitri Moisseev, a researcher at the University of Helsinki and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
‘Even if there would be absolutely ecological planes, which don’t have any combustion, no fuel or anything, it would still happen.’
To find out if the streamers of heightened rain fall could be caused by aircraft, Mr Moisseev and his colleagues reviewed 11 years of the weather radar data.
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They examined flight paths near the airport to see whether the increased rain fall could be caused by passing aircraft.
Scans from Finland revealed more precipitation over Helsinki airport’s flight path.
Radar scans of the area showed hotspots of rain in or around the airport, even during periods of low rainfall.
Mr Moissev discovered the trends in scans over Helsinki-Vantaa airport, where he found straight patches of intense rainfall, during periods of light rain or snow.
Several flights were cancelled in America this week due to extreme cold and ice conditions caused by the polar vortex. The study found that planes landing and taking off from airports can cause more rain or snowfall
Parts of the Niagara Falls froze this week due to the cold weather conditions, pictured. Plane wings cutting through clouds can create more snow and rainfall
The phenomena only occurs in ‘supercooled’ clouds that are made of extremely cold water droplets.
In these clouds the liquid can reach temperatures of -40°C (-40°F) before turning to ice.
This makes the clouds much colder than the typical freezing point. These are supercooled liquid clouds are common in low-to mid-level clouds.
When a plane cuts through these supercooled clouds the change in air pressure can freeze the water droplets.
The wing and propeller tips cause the air to expand and creates a drop in pressure and temperature. This can drop the water droplets temperature to below -40°C (-40°F), causing them to freeze.
WHAT IS ‘SUPERCOOLING’?
Supercooling is the term given to water remaining liquid below its freezing point when it is cooled slowly.
The freezing point of water is 0°C (-32°F). This means that water will normally change from a liquid to a solid as it is cooled to 0°C.
However, if the water is pure enough and if it is cooled slowly enough, the water can stay a liquid even when it is colder than 0°C.
Supercooled water does not turn into ice because it is too pure for ice crystals to form.
Ice crystals require something on which to grow in order to form. Crystals can grow on specks of dust, impurities in the water or on ice itself.
It was so cold in America that a police officers noddles froze as he tried to eat it. The study found that planes landing and taking-off from airports can cause more rain or snowfall
Sunrise along the lake front in Chicago, where temperatures hovered around -20°C. This study found change in pressure from planes causes the water droplets to freeze
The new ice crystals set off a chain reaction, where other water droplets freeze. When the crystals fall, they create holes of clear air in the cloud.
In most cases, the ice crystals evaporate before reaching the ground.
Meteorologists have known that passing aircraft can freeze water droplets into ice crystals and previous work had suggested that the process could enhance rain and snow in underlying clouds, but the effect had not been captured in detail.
Manchester Airport was temporarily closed on Wednesday due to the snowbomb. Researchers found evidence that there was more rain fall on flight paths.
Commuters braved the cold weather this week, as this man cycles through the icy conditions in Bristol. The study found that planes landing and taking-off from airports can cause more rain or snowfall
The effect was amplified closer to the airports as planes taking off and landing within 1-6 miles of the airport increased precipitation.
‘The intensified precipitation basically follows the track of an aeroplane above the cloud,’ Mr Moisseev said. ‘It could extend over hundreds of kilometres, but the cross-section would be maybe 100 meters. So it’s a very narrow, long feature.’
This news comes as large parts of the UK has been hit by heavy snow and the US has come to a standstill because of a polar vortex.
On Wednesday, Manchester Airport closed as workers desperately tried to clear the runway of snow, with passengers complaining of ‘mayhem’ as people were stuck on planes and flights redirected to other airports.
Passengers exit Southwest Airlines flight 1643 in America, after the plane slid of the runway. The study found that planes landing and taking-off from airports can cause more rain or snowfall
White Wednesday: Road gritters on standby, as planes are grounded at Manchester airport. Yellow warnings for snow and ice hit Lancashire and Greater Manchester today. The weather warning is expected to last until the weekend, with four inches of show expected
MailOnline found at least 2,000 schools across Britain serving 800,000-plus children are shut after overnight snowfall caused chaos with some areas getting up to ten inches on the coldest night in Britain for seven years.
The Met Office has issued an amber warning that carries a ‘potential risk to life’ with more extreme snowfall expected in the Home Counties and West Country until lunchtime, cutting off towns and villages.
The deadly arctic deep freeze has caused mayhem in the United States, with a reported 13 people dead with record-breaking low temperatures halting postal services in the Midwest and cancelling more than 2,600 flights.
The study was published in AGU100.
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