70 years of Atmospheric research flying timeline ... - Met Office

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Link (1946_Brewer_condensation_trails.pdf)During the Second World War, a meteorological issue of great importance was theproduction of condensation trails (contrails) in the wake of high-altitude aircraft. Suchtrails provided the enemy with visible confirmation of the presence of aircraft, and insome situations the trails could persist for hours. For this reason a meteorologist joinedthe High Altitude Flight in 1942 to investigate what caused these contrails to form and topersist.The work undertaken by the scientists of the High Altitude Flight (HAF) found that thepassage of an aircraft through the atmosphere increases the air temperature, and waterfrom the exhausts can increase the relative humidity causing an ice cloud to form if theair temperature is low enough. If the relative humidity of the surrounding air is sufficientlyhigh, the cloud will persist and may even grow after the aircraft is long gone.Understanding this, allowed pilots to plan flights so as to minimise contrail production,which reduced the likelihood of their position being given away while flying over enemyterritory.Work is still being undertaken by scientists in Observational Based Research (thecurrent incarnation of HAF) to look at the impact that aircraft contrails are having onclimate change, and ways in which this impact can be reduced.© Crown copyright 20125
1948MRF equipped with a second Mosquito PR34 (VL621) seen here with a Halifax.1948MRF staff measuring the size of cloud particles on board a Halifax.© Crown copyright 20126
Page 1 and 2: 70 years of AtmosphericResearch Fly
Page 3 and 4: 1942Two Boston Aircraft (AL480 & AL
Page 5: Meteorological Research Flight, the
Page 9 and 10: 1953Canberra B2 (WJ582) arrived and
Page 11 and 12: 1961 MRF staff moved to a purpose b
Page 13 and 14: 1964Inside the Hastings.© Crown co
Page 15 and 16: 1966Hastings C1A (TG618) retired.19
Page 17 and 18: 1970Varsity (WF425) arrived.‘The
Page 19 and 20: 1973Canberra detached to Colorado t
Page 21 and 22: 1978C130 Hercules participated in t
Page 23 and 24: Link (Acid_Rain_Research_with_Snoop
Page 25 and 26: 1987Equipment for the measurement o
Page 27 and 28: 1994Hercules aircraft detached to C
Page 29 and 30: 1999A badge from the Enhanced Conti
Page 31 and 32: 2001The Facility for Airborne Atmos
Page 33 and 34: CAESAR was designed to study and un
Page 35 and 36: The BAe-146 aircraft made a range o
Page 37 and 38: The MetOp series of satellites fly
Page 39 and 40: 2011The Met Office Civil Contingenc
Page 41 and 42: The FAAM aircraft is used for proje
Page 43: Met Office Tel: 0870 900 0100FitzRo

70 years of Atmospheric research flying timeline ... - Met Office

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