2014

Sustainable Aviation with the help of climate-optimized flight planning

Aviation plays an important role in the global mobility. However, it also alters the atmospheric composition and thereby contributes to climate change. In the light of developing sustainable aviation climate-optimized flight planning offers one possibility to mitigate aviation climate impact. A feasibility study on climate-optimized flight planning was performed within the European collaborative project REACT4C and has been awarded the Aviation Award 2014 by the Airport of Stuttgart. This study of scientists of the institute and other coauthors from the European project team has the title 'Reduction of air traffic contribution to climate change: a REACT4C case study'.

The ozone hole will be closed

On behalf of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), scientists of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics and other DLR instituts have contributed as lead-authors and reviewers to the current assessment of the evolution of the ozone layer in the stratosphere. Newest studies indicate that the ozone layer in the mid-21st century will have the same thickness as observed in the early 1980s.

A satellite-supported procedure to predict volcano ash

To support the safety of air transport and improve the air traffic system's response times in the critical event of a volcanic eruption, the identification of ash-free airspace is essential. At the DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics, a satellite-supported procedure has been developed that rapidly determines the distribution of ash in the air and generates detailed images of areas with both heavy and light ash loads.

8th European weather radar conference successfully finished

Die European Conference on Radar in Meteorology and Hydrology (ERAD 2014) took place 1-5 September, 2014 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany). The DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics organized this meeting together with the department of research and the president's office of the German Weather Service (DWD).

DEEPWAVE campaign - investigation of gravity waves in the atmosphere above New Zealand

For a number of nights between 29 June and 23 July 2014, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) Falcon research aircraft will be flying over the New Zealand Alps (Southern Alps) to investigate how these waves propagate from Earth's surface up to an altitude of around 100 kilometres using modern laser metrology and other instruments. The results will help to improve climate and weather prediction models. The international aircraft measurement campaign DEEPWAVE (Deep Propagating Gravity Wave Experiment) is being carried out by the DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics in cooperation with partners in the USA and New Zealand.

DLR Falcon visits Berlin Air Show between two environmental and atmospheric research missions

In time for the start of the Berlin Air Show (ILA) and coming straight from joint flight trials with NASA in Palmdale, California, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Falcon 20 E research aircraft landed at the Berlin Show Ground, where NASA, DLR and the Canadian National Research Council (NRC) held a press conference on 21 May 2014 to discuss their cooperation and to present initial results from the NASA-led ACCESS-II mission (Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions). With a better carbon dioxide balance and significantly reduced amounts of carbon particulates in the exhaust emissions when compared to kerosene, the biofuels demonstrated the potential of renewable fuels for environment-friendly developments within aviation.

Research aircraft HALO examines cirrus clouds and vapour trails

Unanswered questions about the formation of clouds and their impact on the climate are currently setting limitations on the validity of global climate forecasts. To make a detailed analysis of the climate effects of natural ice clouds and the vapour trails created by air traffic, the HALO research aircraft (a collective initiative by German environment and climate research bodies) embarked on the first of a total of 12 measurement flights on 24 March 2014.