Preventing ice formation in the engine openings is important, as ice here could dislodge and cause damage as it's ingested into the engine.

CNN: Airplane deicing: The how and why

And now the Arctic's upper layers are getting less dense, for several reasons: melting Arctic glaciers, rising surface-water temperatures, increased precipitation and an absence of salt concentrations resulting from sea-ice formation.

ECONOMIST: The science

At Cranfield University just outside London a team of engineers specialize in analyzing the formation of ice around engines and on aeroplane wings.

CNN: SHARE THIS

About 14 million years ago, a period of climate change caused the formation of the Antarctic ice sheet, which averages one mile in thickness and gets up to three miles thick in some parts.

BBC: How Antarctica works

It provides an outstanding example of the interaction of marine and terrestrial ecosystems as well as extraordinary ecosystem productivity, largely influenced by the formation of seasonal sea ice at the lowest latitude in the northern hemisphere.

UNESCO: Culture

One way to increase the probability of rain is to seed the formation not of water droplets, but of ice crystals, an important step in precipitation.

ECONOMIST: Aerobiology

Since their formation in 1986, the Devils have been one of British ice hockey's most successful teams, winning the Premier League and the Premier Championship three times.

BBC: Cardiff set for league comedown

The researchers say they need to understand exactly how the ice gets on to the grains and evaporates from them again so that they can simulate the process of star formation with computers.

BBC: University of Nottingham