BATTLESPACE FORECASTING OF AVIATION ICING HAZARDS

Aircraft icing endangers aviators, restricts surveillance opportunities, and reduces combat effectiveness. During freezing conditions, clouds and precipitation can contain appreciable amounts of subfreezing liquid water. Aircraft traversing these clouds accumulate ice as supercooled liquid freezes to the wings and airframe. Ice accretion can be very rapid compromising the aerodynamics of the wings and propellers, as well as adding weight and increasing drag. Advanced warning of weather hazards posed by existing and impending meteorological conditions would allow commanders and aviators to develop mitigation strategies. The resolution and accuracy of forecast of in-flight and ground icing are currently limited by a lack of data on cloud and precipitation phase (liquid or ice), cloud temperature, and cloud droplet or raindrop size. Active systems such as short-wavelength radars, lidars, and passive sensors such as microwave radiometers and in-situ meteorological probes can provide these data. These sensors can be packaged into lightweight, compact, low-power units that could be deployed on the ground or on airborne platforms. When coupled with state-of-the-art retrieval algorithms, these sensors would improve the reliability and timeliness of regional weather forecasts. It is even feasible to develop an integrated field system for forecasting in-flight and ground aviation icing hazards