Understanding what causes this turbulence means that it can be forecast, enabling aircraft to avoid areas where severe clear air turbulence is expected, and making air journeys safer and more comfortable. The data collected during the GATE field campaign provided an invaluable source of truth for scientists developing computer models of tropical meteorology, enabling forecasts for this region, and hence global forecasts, to be improved. The GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Program) Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) involved scientists and research platforms from around the world, including eight aircraft from the USA, two from the USSR and the MRF C-130 Hercules from the UK. In 1974 one of the largest international meteorological field campaigns ever undertaken took place near the west coast of Africa. Understanding this, enabled pilots to plan flights so as to minimise contrail production, which reduced the likelihood of their position being given away while flying over enemy territory. Work done by scientists in the Meteorological Research Flight (MRF) in the early years found that the humidity of the air around an aircraft is a crucial factor in determining whether a contrail will form, and how long that trail will persist.
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