Flying far beyond the reach of routine observations, Germany’s HALO research aircraft is gathering rare data over the North Atlantic to close critical gaps in how Europe’s most disruptive winter storms are understood and forecast.
Every winter, the North Atlantic quietly shapes life across Western Europe. Storms born thousands of kilometres offshore sweep in with little warning, bringing floods, gale-force winds, and sudden cold snaps that disrupt transport, damage infrastructure, and, at times, put lives at risk.
Yet despite its outsized influence on European weather, the Atlantic remains one of the least observed parts of the atmosphere.
That gap is now at the centre of a major international research effort. In January 2026, scientists launched the North Atlantic Waveguide, Dry Intrusion and Downstream Impact Campaign, better known as NAWDIC, a six-week mission designed to observe the Atlantic atmosphere in unprecedented detail.
At the heart of the campaign is HALO, Germany’s high-altitude, long-range research aircraft, which is criss-crossing storm systems far out over the ocean to understand how extreme winter weather takes shape.
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