As airplanes fly through the clouds, they often punch holes through the ones that contain supercooled water, or water that has remained in liquid form below its freezing point. Now, researchers say that this phenomenon can lead to increased snowfall around the world’s major airports.

The effect is similar to cloud seeding, which has been used in the past to influence the amount of precipitation falling from a cloud. New research now shows that numerous private and commercial flights have been drilling holes and canals through clouds all along, influencing the snow and rainfall below them.

The study appears in the 1 July issue of the journal Science.



Aircraft-induced hole observed at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Camp, Antarctica on 12 Dec 2009. The hole first appeared on the horizon and then moved toward the camera. It is likely that a LC130 aircraft produced the ice that formed the hole. Photo provided by Eric Zrubek and Michael Carmody. | Images courtesy of Science/AAAS

The inadvertent cloud-seeding effects described in the report are facilitated by the expansion and cooling of air behind a propeller aircraft’s engine blades and over aircraft wings, when supercooled cloud temperatures are about -10 degrees Celsius and below. The associated drops in temperature can be sufficient to spontaneously freeze the supercooled cloud droplets and form ice crystals, which then grow at the expense of the water droplets. The process snowballs—literally—to produce a hole or a canal in the cloud layer that can continue expanding for hours, increasing precipitation in and below the cloud.

It is unlikely that this phenomenon affects the global climate. But since many major airports have low cloud cover in wintertime, it may increase the need to de-ice planes in the future, researchers say.

Because airports in the Arctic and Antarctic regions house weather station records that climate modelers use, predictions for these areas may also be skewed by the local weather conditions created by planes near the airports.

Andrew Heymsfield from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado and colleagues from across the United States studied satellite images of these so-called hole-punch or canal clouds in detail, and then used weather-forecasting computer models to simulate the clouds’ growth and evolution. The researchers conclude that many different types of private and commercial propeller and jet aircraft can produce ice crystals and holes in supercooled clouds, which then spread and create snow in and below the clouds.

Such porous cloud covers, induced by aircraft, have been documented for decades—and they are sometimes mistaken for rocket launches or U.F.Os, like the ominous saucer-looking cloud that hovered over Moscow in 2009, prompting all sorts of speculation and conspiracy theories.

Imagery from the GOES satellite on 29 January 2007. (Top) Circular and linear aircraft induced holes, and (Bottom) example of paths of multiple holes, with circles indicating the midpoint position of each hole or canal at 15-min intervals from first through last detection.

“Whether an airplane creates a hole or a canal in the clouds depends on its trajectory,” Heymsfield said. “When they climb through a supercool cloud layer, they can just produce a hole. But when they fly level through the cloud layer, they can produce long canals.”

According to the new research, these supercooled cloud layers can be found within 62 miles (100 kilometers) of the world’s major airports as much as 5 to 6% of the time. And the cloud-seeding effects that occur when aircraft pass through them are apparently more pronounced near the Earth’s polar regions.

Heymsfield and his team analyzed 20 satellite images of a cloud cover with holes in it that was suspended over the state of Texas on 29 January 2007. Some of the holes in the cloud were visible for more than four hours and grew to lengths greater than 62 miles (100 kilometers) long.

The researchers then looked at archived aircraft flight information from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to find out what kind of aircraft had flown in that area—between 4.3 and 5 miles (7 and 8 kilometers) high—on that particular day. They identified a number of different airplanes that are able to produce such holes and canals, from large passenger jets and military planes to small turboprops and private, single-engine jets.

“An aircraft propeller pushes air behind it, which generates thrust around the propeller tips,” Heymsfield explained. “This thrust, in turn, cools the air behind the propellers by up to 30 degrees Celsius, freezing cloud droplets and leaving a stream of small ice particles trailing behind the propellers.”

(Top) Photograph of aircraft induced hole observed on 29 Jan 2007 as viewed toward the west, © Jafvis. (Bottom) Simulated snow fallstreaks at 60 min after the introduction of ice into the cloud layer.

Aircraft generate lift by moving air over the top of their wings, creating lower air pressure above the wings than below them. “This also expands and cools the air above the wings by about 20 degrees Celsius, which is more pronounced at jet aircraft speeds,” Heymsfield said. “And due to this cooling, a stream of ice can be produced behind the wings.”

Up in the clouds, the air temperature often hovers around -10 degrees Celsius. But, if there is no dust or ice crystals—solid particles that can be used as nuclei to start the freezing process—water can remain supercooled, in its liquid form, until about -40 degrees Celsius.

This phenomenon forms the basis of cloud seeding operations that began in the 1960s: By inserting solid particles into clouds, researchers could initiate this freezing of supercooled water at temperatures warmer than -40 degrees Celsius.

So, it seems that aircraft coming and going from airports around the world can inadvertently seed clouds in this fashion to produce more snow inside the clouds and on the ground below, the researchers report. By punching holes or drilling canals through cloud covers, private and commercial flights alike could be responsible for increased snowfall around major airports.

For Heymsfield, the scientific investigation provided a thrill. “The most interesting part of this research to me is the physics—and the fact that the production and spread of the holes and canals can now be explained,” he said.

“Now, I’m off to the Virgin Islands to investigate more tropical cloud covers there.”