Intercomparison of In-Flight Icing Algorithms. Part I: WISP94 Real-Time Icing Prediction and Evaluation Program

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Icing Forecasting Improvement Program is to conduct research on icing conditions both in flight and on the ground. This paper describes a portion of the in-flight aircraft icing prediction effort through a comprehensive icing prediction and evaluation project conducted by the Research Applications Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. During this project, in- flight icing potential was forecast using algorithms developed by RAP, the National Weather Service’s National Aviation Weather Advisory Unit, and the Air Force Global Weather Center in conjunction with numerical model data from the Eta, MAPS, and MM5 models. Furthermore, explicit predictions of cloud liquid water were available from the Eta and MM5 models and were also used to forecast icing potential. To compare subjectively the different algorithms, predicted icing regions and observed pilot reports were viewed simultaneously on an interactive, real-time display. To m...