Airplane Sky Hole: Big Pic
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June 16, 2010 -- Hole-punch clouds like the one here form when turboprop and jet airplanes fly through and change water droplets into ice crystals, according to a new study.
Droplets in many clouds exist in a strange supercooled state; they can be as cold as -34 degrees C (-35 degrees F), well below freezing, and yet remain in liquid form. When airplanes come cruising through, they can cause a quick drop in temperature that freezes the droplets. Suddenly the cloud is populated by ice crystals. Droplets begin condensing around them in a chain reaction and then a hole of blue sky appears where fluffy white cloud had been.
Image: NCAR/Alan Sealls WKRG-TV
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