Mountain Waves and Clear Air Turbulence

Study of Clear Air Turbulence over Iranian Plato

This study was carried out using two sets of numerical weather forecast data and flight reports for Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) over Iranian Plato to find atmospheric flow patterns favorable to the formation of CAT. The numerical data include five months of AVN analysis with horizontal resolution of 1 degree(about 100 km) and four months forecast data of MM5 model with resolution of 50 km. Impor...

Clear-air turbulence in a changing climate

Atmospheric turbulence causes most weather-related aircraft incidents. Commercial aircraft encounter moderate-or-greater turbulence tens of thousands of times each year worldwide, injuring probably hundreds of passengers (occasionally fatally), costing airlines tens of millions of dollars and causing structural damage to planes. Clear-air turbulence is especially difficult to avoid, because it ...

Verification of clear-air turbulence forecasts

Clear-Air Turbulence Impact Modeling Based on Flight Route Analysis

In this study, a Route-Based Turbulent-Weather Avoidance Model (TWAM-R) is presented. TWAM-R improves a previously reported trajectory-based model which was tactical in nature. TWAM-R considers more strategic turbulence-avoidance decisions that are based on turbulence forecasts and pilot reports (PIREPs). TWAM-R identifies areas of reduced capacity and areas of potential hazards due to congesti...

Lee Waves and Mountain Waves ∗

Buoyancy perturbations develop when stably stratified air ascends a mountain barrier. These perturbations often trigger disturbances that propagate away from the mountain as gravity (or buoyancy) waves. Gravity waves triggered by the flow over a mountain are referred to as mountain waves or lee waves. Mountain waves sometimes reveal their presence through dramatic cloud formations, such as smoo...