London, July 1 (IANS) People living close to airports may not only suffer sleepless nights, they could also experience lousy weather.
The very presence of aircraft increases the possibility of snow and rain during landings or take-offs, says a new study.
The effects of jet planes punching through clouds have been likened to ‘cloud seeding’ operations, where ice crystals are created to make it rain.
The findings are based on satellite images of clouds around airports and computer models of cloud behaviour, reports the journal Science.
The side-effect of flying is likely to be most obvious around the world’s busiest airports, such as Heathrow where more than 1,200 planes land or take-off every day, according to the Daily Mail.
The phenomenon occurs when aircraft smash through clouds containing ‘super-cooled’ water – or water that exists as droplets of liquid at temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius or below.
Andrew Heymsfield, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, US, said aircraft increased the chances of snow when they punched holes in clouds after taking off and when they created ‘canals’ in clouds when descending.
‘Whether an airplane creates a hole or a canal in the clouds depends on its trajectory,’ he said.
‘When they climb through a super-cooled cloud layer, they can just produce a hole. But when they fly level through the cloud layer, they can produce long canals,’ Heymsfield said.
