NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Due to the lapse in federal government funding, NASA is not updating this website. We sincerely regret this inconvenience.

Back to Results
A Real-Time Satellite-Based Icing Detection SystemAircraft icing is one of the most dangerous weather conditions for general aviation. Currently, model forecasts and pilot reports (PIREPS) constitute much of the database available to pilots for assessing the icing conditions in a particular area. Such data are often uncertain or sparsely available. Improvements in the temporal and areal coverage of icing diagnoses and prognoses would mark a substantial enhancement of aircraft safety in regions susceptible to heavy supercooled liquid water clouds. The use of 3.9 microns data from meteorological satellite imagers for diagnosing icing conditions has long been recognized (e.g., Ellrod and Nelson, 1996) but to date, no explicit physically based methods have been implemented. Recent advances in cloud detection and cloud property retrievals using operational satellite imagery open the door for real-time objective applications of those satellite datasets for a variety of weather phenomena. Because aircraft icing is related to cloud macro- and microphysical properties (e.g., Cober et al. 1995), it is logical that the cloud properties from satellite data would be useful for diagnosing icing conditions. This paper describes the a prototype realtime system for detecting aircraft icing from space.
Document ID
20040087186
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Minnis, Patrick
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Smith, William L., Jr.
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Nguyen, Louis
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Khaiyer, Mandana M.
(AS and M, Inc. Hampton, VA, United States)
Spangenberg, Douglas A.
(AS and M, Inc. Hampton, VA, United States)
Heck, Patrick W.
(Wisconsin Univ. Madison, WI, United States)
Palikonda, Rabindra
(AS and M, Inc. Hampton, VA, United States)
Bernstein, Ben C.
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, CO, United States)
McDonough, Frank
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, CO, United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
July 18, 2004
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Meeting Information
Meeting: 14th International Conference on Clouds and Precipitation (ICCP 2004)
Location: Bologna
Country: Italy
Start Date: July 18, 2004
End Date: July 23, 2004
Funding Number(s)
OTHER: 728-40-10
CONTRACT_GRANT: DE-A102-97ER-62341
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
No Preview Available