Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2014-08-08, 11:09:35 | version 1.32.01
major research projects top priority under its overall research policy. The first IAGOS system has been in service since July 2011 on the Viersen, a Lufthansa Airbus A340-300. Other systems have since been installed on three A340-300 aircraft along with an A330-300 operated by other airlines. After each landing, these data are sent by means of a GSM modem directly to the CNRS research center in Toulouse, where the IAGOS database has its home. From there the data are made available for use by numer- ous other research institutions around the world in addition to our IAGOS partner. The package of instruments specially developed for the project is robust and requires virtually no maintenance. In addition to the routine capture of atmospheric trace substances, it will be measuring aerosols and cloud particles. addition to the measurements on board, 116 air samples are taken per mission for further analysis in European laboratories. The objec- tive of the project is, among other things, to investigate the processes taking place in the boundary layer between the troposphere and the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere that is of particular interest to scientists. Nei- ther satellites nor ground-based equipment can measure climatically relevant parameters in nearly the same quantity or with nearly the same accuracy. Measurements taken with the flying CARIBIC laboratory have recently made an important contribution to proving the pres- ence of three previously undetected chloro- fluorocarbons (CFC). One of them, CFC-113a, has been increasing rapidly of late. The next step is to find out where these gases are being produced and what the reasons are for their increase. Only when we have done so will successful countermeasures be possible, as they have been in the case of previously known CFCs, of which there have been only seven so far. They are considered as the main cause of the ozone hole. This is true also of the likewise newly detected CFC replacement, hydro-chloro-fluoro-carbon (HCFC). Ú IAGOS: A new measure- ment infrastructure for climate research The climate research project IAGOS (In- service Aircraft for a Global Observing Sys- tem), in which Lufthansa is likewise a partici- pant, was begun in 2013 as one of three major research projects in the Roadmap for Research Infrastructures of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). As a successor to MOZAIC, IAGOS also uses commercial aircraft as a platform for collecting global and continuous atmospheric data on scheduled flights. The IAGOS mea- suring equipment is constantly being improved by the participating research insti- tutes so that more, and more precise, data on trace substances in the atmosphere can be collected. According to the scientific panel appointed by the BMBF to oversee the proj- ect, this will close an important knowledge gap, resulting in more accurate climate fore- casts. The BMBF has given the selected Ú AMDAR: Further improvement in weather forecasts Since the end of 1999, Lufthansa aircraft have been equipped with software that gathers current meteorological data in flight. The Lufthansa Group is thus helping to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts. Taking the data measured by aircraft into account can increase the accuracy of weather forecasts for the next 24 hours by 5–7%. Aircraft Meteoro- logical Data Relay (AMDAR) is the term used to describe this system for collecting weather data in flight. No additional weather sensors or on-board hardware are needed to record AMDAR data. Since pilots in the cockpit also need information such as barometric altitude, air temperature, and wind speed, aircraft are already equipped with the appropriate mea- suring devices. The special software, which was developed in collaboration with Lufthansa Systems, is needed only for transmission of the weather data by data link. Ú CARIBIC: Important dis- covery for the protection of the ozone layer The Lufthansa Group has supported the CARIBIC (Civil Aircraft for the Regular Investi- gation of the Atmosphere Based on an Instru- ment Container) project since 2004. The aim of this project is to obtain detailed analyses of the atmosphere in particular regions. For this purpose the Leverkusen, a Lufthansa Airbus A340-600, was equipped with a globally unique, 1.5-tonne measuring container, turn- ing the aircraft into a flying climate research laboratory. Ten research institutes in five European countries jointly developed and equipped the automated measuring container under the supervision of the Mainz-based Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. The container is installed once a month for several days and measures data relating to 50 different gases and particulate compounds simultaneously. It has now covered more than two million kilo- meters in the service of climate research. In Why are commercial aircraft particularly suited to this? Ú Civil aviation is suited to the study and observation of the atmosphere for several reasons: The Earth’s atmosphere can be observed by satellites as well as from the ground. Both are remote sensing measurements. However, they have a relatively poor spatial resolution. Direct measurements on board aircraft, on the other hand, provide a much higher spatial resolution. Commercial aircraft, therefore, bridge the gap between observation satel- lite measurements and ground-based measurements. Aircraft fly at a higher level (tropopause), which is of particular importance for cli- mate research. Aircraft fly worldwide, and so can observe the entirety of the Earth’s atmosphere. Scheduled flights provide a high level of continuity and mean that long-term observations can be made that would not be possible with the individual flights made by special research aircraft, which are also much more expensive. 13 / 14 / 15 Measuring sensors on Lufthansa aircraft used for climate research in flight. Sustainability Report Balance // Issue 2014 // Lufthansa Group // 67