The cold's effect on an airship?

[Jeremiah Reed]

I'm writing a story set in a world that is almost completely frozen over, basically a planet-sized Alaska, and I was wondering what the effects such frigid temperatures would have on an airship. The people in my story use airships as their primary transport, but I want to know if there would be any problems using these kinds of machines in such cold areas.

 

[Yora]

Colder gasses are more dense. But since the air outside of the tanks and the gas inside the tanks would be at the same lower temperature, it shouldn't make any difference. For gasses to actually start turning into liquids, the temperatures would need to get close to absolute zero. I think the air would actually liquify long before helium or hydrogen.

Some materials might become more brittle and weaker at very low temperatures, but I think for the materials that were historically used in airships it shouldn't make any difference either.

Can't really anything that would straight up rule out airships designed for very cold weather operations. Air ships have even been to the North Pole (though addmitedly in summer).

 

[CupofJoe]

Frost and ice build-up might be an issue. I remember reading that crossing the Atlantic, Zeppelins had someone walk outside and scrape it off. I have a memory of someone with a broom brushing snow off the top of the Zeppelin.
Water is heavy and Airships tend to be large, so even a little icing up could be a problem. The Aeronauts film might give you some idea. The trailer has a ballon icing up...

 

[Prince of Spires]

The temperature itself isn't much of an issue for an airship. As Yora mentions, airships have flown in arctic regions here on earth. And high altitude airships regularly face much lower temperatures then what you get in arctic regions.

The problems I would expect are, like CupofJoe mentions, the weather conditions. Snow is a real problem if you're relying on being lighter than air. After all, unlike water snow doesn't simply run off your airship. Then there are issues of ice building up in areas and freezing knobs and valves and similar things, where the machinery grinds to a halt. It probably won't crash your airship (immediately), since you're not relying on engines to stay in the air, but it might leave you adrift.

Also, heating the interior (so your passengers are comfortable) will be an issue. And while helium (or hydrogen) won't freeze, gasoline or diesel will at low enough temperatures (it can be an issue in the arctic on really cold nights).

All in all, there isn't a reason not to use them. But doing so will be a bit more dangerous than here on earth. Which just means you'll have lots of options for a nice story.

 

[Yora]

Since airships can fly as low and as slow as they want, going outside to remove ice should be relatively safe. A safety line to prevent falling off should be enough. Even if you slip, the shape means you would just slide on the surface without having any sudden drops before you run out of line, or hitting any hard or sharp things.

 

[Pemry Janes]

Another issue is, where do they get the material to build these airships if the world is almost frozen over? That means that there's only a limited area where they can grow crops to feed their population, let alone the wood they'd need for construction or the fibers for making the cloth to create the gas bags.

 

[CupofJoe]

There were the Airships Norge and Italia that made polar flights...

 

[Vaporo]

Another issue is, where do they get the material to build these airships if the world is almost frozen over? That means that there's only a limited area where they can grow crops to feed their population, let alone the wood they'd need for construction or the fibers for making the cloth to create the gas bags.

They could be made of aluminum. Plus there are trees in all but the absolute coldest of cold regions of earth. He describes it as a "planet-sized Alaska," so it wouldn't be a total ice sheet.

 

[Pemry Janes]

They could be made of aluminum. Plus there are trees in all but the absolute coldest of cold regions of earth. He describes it as a "planet-sized Alaska," so it wouldn't be a total ice sheet.

Ah, good point, I wasn't thinking of what kind of tech level this society was. However, in those cold regions, there is at least summer where the snow melts. Will temperatures get that high when most of the planet is trapped in ice?

 

[yoffi]

It's interesting to also focus on what it's like on the ground. What precautions would be needed? How would the clothes be different? How would breath condense? Wow sounds like an amazing subject to write about!
Perhaps you can mix the cold with fire too! That could be an amazing way to talk about the way the light is reflected off the ice