Cathay Pacific Contributing to Climate Change Science

Description

Contributing to Climate Change Science

Since 2013, one of our Airbus A330-300 aircraft equipped with In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System (IAGOS) scientific instruments has operated over 1,400 flights primarily on Australian and Middle East routes from Hong Kong, complementing five other similarly equipped commercial aircraft operating on other routes around the world. Data on ozone, carbon monoxide, water vapour, and clouds is recorded during take-off, cruising, and landing and transmitted to the IAGOS central database on a daily basis for access by science and policy users, including the provision of real time data for weather prediction, air quality forecasting and climate models. The growing IAGOS database will continue to improve our understanding of cloud processes and their impact on climate.

Since 2013 data covering 74,759 clouds sampled during 4,399 IAGOS flights yielded new insights into our understanding of small cirrus ice crystals and their implications for flight operations. The findings1 revealed that the safety of an aircraft may be affected when flying through clouds with very high ice crystal concentrations, where instrument interference can cause anomalous readings from temperature and airspeed sensors.