Ice Research Predicts Hazardous Cloud Formations

Researchers at New Jersey’s Rowan University are testing ways to detect icing conditions pilots should avoid. The Rowan team has been focusing on ice clouds and crystals, developing an ice cloud chamber and measuring its change in polarization, according to the university’s research and grants...

For immediate service; more information; and multi-user access (site license), non-profit organization, educational institute pricing, contact Karen Garner kgarner@accessintel.com at (301) 354-1612.

This story is only available to paid subscribers. Please login below with your username and password if you are a subscriber.

Username:
Password:
	What is my password?

Subscribe     Trial

Researchers at New Jersey’s Rowan University are testing ways to detect icing conditions pilots should avoid. The Rowan team has been focusing on ice clouds and crystals, developing an ice cloud chamber and measuring its change in polarization, according to the university’s research and grants web site. Previously, there was no way to determine which clouds are hazardous. Icing caused the regional airline industry’s worst accident in 1994 when it felled an American Eagle ATR-72 at Roselawn, Ind. owing to a previously unknown icing phenomenon. The accident led to the single-level-of-safety rule.
“The team re-created ice clouds in an ice-cloud chamber on a small scale, successfully forming ice crystals with the same characteristics of those in nature,” said the web site. “Using these lab-created crystals, they can project a laser beam through the chamber, measuring its change in polarization, which is dependent on the size, shape and distribution of ice crystals in the cloud. The polarization state of light is invisible to the naked eye, but measurable using sensitive lenses and photo-detectors. Eventually, this process could enable a pilot to use low-power lasers to detect the crystals in time to allow the plane to avoid the crystal-bearing clouds.”
A 20-year-old junior studying mechanical engineering – Todd Nilson – explained the significance of the research when he said. "No one has previously done what we are doing in terms of this lab scale and the ability to vary as many elements.”
During the course of two semesters, the team constructed an insulated Plexiglas unit — the ice cloud chamber — to house the ice crystals created from liquid nitrogen and water chilled to -40 degrees Celsius. The entire system is computer-controlled. A microscope attached to the unit allowed the team to magnify the 40-micron crystals, which are roughly as wide as a human hair, and then take pictures.
After producing the ice cloud in the chamber, a laser beam was directed into the unit. The light that bounced back from the ice crystals, called backscattered light, passed into a detector. The data collected from this process can be used to determine which clouds contain ice crystals detrimental to airplane flight.
“Thus far, the team has successfully re-created the ice crystals that have characteristics that are needed for further research,” said the team. “This is a significant step toward providing a method to detect the specific crystals in the path of aircraft. The ability to re-create ice crystals that have the same characteristics as those found in nature, on such a small scale, enables further research by other companies with little financial burden.”
The team's research is sponsored by a $5,000 grant from R.L. Associates, Inc., a research and development company specializing in optical technology located in Chester, Pa.