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A scientific paper reveals how dust plumes near the world’s busiest airports can affect aircraft and offers a possible solution.
Led by the University of Reading in the UK and published in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences earlier this year, the study was co-authored by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
Copernicus is the Earth observation component of the European Union’s Space Programme.
The paper noted that dust concentrations varied considerably throughout the daily 24-hour cycle, with levels peaking at low altitudes in late afternoon and dropping to minimal at night.
The problem was particularly evident around airports with low-altitude dust such as Dubai (shown here), where the dust dose could be reduced by up to 41% by flying at night. Many other airports saw a reduction of at least 30% from night flying.
Variations in hold altitude can also significantly reduce total dose. Since dust generally decreases with altitude, raising aircraft hold altitude reduces dust dose.
However, the study added, “knowledge of the dust vertical profile is crucial, since airports with elevated dust plumes can incur a higher dose if holding altitude is raised into the dust plume. In this context, installation of airport-based ground lidars would be extremely useful in informing air traffic control services about the presence, concentration, and altitude of dust and potential maneuvers to avoid the highest dust concentrations.”
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