A Dark, Stormy Night over the Atlantic
An Air France plane (Flight AF 447) carrying 228 people from Brazil to France has vanished over the Atlantic after flying into turbulence, airline officials say.
The Airbus sent an automatic message at 0214 GMT, four hours after leaving Rio de Janeiro, reporting a short circuit. It may have been damaged by lightning.
In a place that is home to the world’s worst thunderstorms. Just as it disappeared, the Airbus A330-203 was flying into a thick band of convective activity that rose to 41,000 feet. This equatorial region is known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone – it is where Northeast and Southeast Trade Winds meet - forcing a lot of warm, moist air upward - which condenses – an efficient thunderstorm producing machine.
More info here: http://trueslant.com/milesobrien/2009/06/01/a-dark-stormy-night-over-the-atlantic/
Intertropical Convergence Zone: http://iri.ldeo.columbia.edu/~bgordon/ITCZ.html
Timeline of the flight via BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8077304.stm
