Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings

Instrument-Bearing Drones Investigate Ice Crystals in Clouds

By Jennifer DeLaOsa | October 29, 2018

Share

Bringing together more than 60 researchers from 20 institutions from a dozen countries, the EU-funded BACCHUS project looked to investigate how aerosols were effecting ice crystals in clouds by using instrument-bearing drones.

Aerosols, which occur from human activities or naturally, were analyzed in key regions that regulate the Earth’s climate. According to CORDIS, “ice clouds precipitate more readily and influence the radiation budget more than water clouds. This balance between radiation from the Sun and what the Earth radiates back is an important equation in climate-change modelling.”

The project used drones carrying temperature, humidity, and aerosol sensors. Flying a few kilometers in the air, the drones enabled readings that better represented the atmospheric conditions of the clouds’ ice formations, reported by CORDIS, compared to ground-based measurements. It was also the first time drones were utilized for this particular type of vertical profiling, according to CORDIS.

Along with drones, the team used larger research vessels and aircraft, and satellite remote-sensing data from the ground.

“You get only a few measurement points using aircraft,” says Project Coordinator Professor Ulrike Lohmann, professor for Atmospheric Physics at the Institute for Atmosphere and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, “Drones are light and highly flexible. They can also facilitate more frequent cloud measurements in different locations around the world, particularly remote regions where data is missing.”

The drones first flew over a region in Cyprus, and sent that data into a custom database for ice clouds.

“There are databases for aerosols, and databases for all meteorological variables, but a database for ice-nucleating particles did not exist. We built it from scratch,” says Professor Lohmann. 

Overall, the BACCHUS database will include information dating back to 1300 AD.


Filed Under: Aerospace + defense

 

Related Articles Read More >

Mars helicopter receives Collier Trophy
Flexible rotary shafts to power Delta Airlines’ engines powering their first Airbus A321neo aircraft
Ontic acquires Servotek and Westcon product lines from Marsh Bellofram
Flexible rotary shafts support thrust reverser on 150 LEAP 1-A turbofan engines

DESIGN GUIDE LIBRARY

“motion

Enews Sign Up

Motion Control Classroom

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Pushing performance: Adding functionality to terminal blocks
  • Get to Know Würth Industrial Division
  • Renishaw next-generation FORTiS™ enclosed linear encoders offer enhanced metrology and reliability for machine tools
  • WAGO’s smartDESIGNER Online Provides Seamless Progression for Projects
  • Epoxy Certified for UL 1203 Standard
  • The Importance of Industrial Cable Resistance to Chemicals and Oils

Design World Podcasts

June 12, 2022
How to avoid over engineering a part
See More >
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Design World
  • Advertising
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Engineering White Papers
  • LEAP AWARDS

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings