Icing and sublimation

On Friday, when I was flying back from Fredericton to Ottawa, I picked up a splash of clear ice in a cloud top over Maine.

I use my Outside Air Temperature (OAT) probe as an early ice detector, since thinner surfaces collect ice before fatter ones (like a wing). Here’s what I saw:

IMG_20151002_142208

I immediately climbed higher, even though the air was colder (-12°c), because I knew that the sunlight would cause the ice to sublimate, passing straight from frozen to vapour without ever thawing. These pictures show what happened over the next half hour:

IMG_20151002_142208

IMG_20151002_145309

IMG_20151002_150433

IMG_20151002_152019

Sublimation is much slower than thawing, so if you have the choice to descend into warmer air, do it. When there’s just a trace, though, and you can get safely above the clouds, sublimation isn’t a bad option.

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2 Responses to Icing and sublimation

  1. Frank Ch. Eigler says:

    Note that sublimation works less well on areas of the airplane that aren’t in sunlight – like the engine air filters. Ask me how I know.

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