Table Of ContentRobert Sharman · Todd Lane Editors
Aviation
Turbulence
Processes, Detection, Prediction
Aviation Turbulence
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Robert Sharman (cid:129) Todd Lane
Editors
Aviation Turbulence
Processes, Detection, Prediction
Editors
RobertSharman ToddLane
NationalCenterforAtmosphericResearch SchoolofEarthSciences
Boulder,Colorado TheUniversityofMelbourne
USA Melbourne,Victoria
Australia
ISBN978-3-319-23629-2 ISBN978-3-319-23630-8 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-23630-8
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016941512
©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2016
ChaptersbyPhilipG.Gill,page261/PiersBuchanan,page285:©CrownCopyright2016
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Preface
Thisbookprovidesacompilationofrecentworkintheareaofaviationturbulence
research.Themotivationforsuchacompilationwasbasedontwohighlysuccessful
internationallyattendedaviationturbulenceworkshopsintheUnitedStatesin2013
and 2014 and four aviation meteorology workshops in Seoul, South Korea.
Attendeesincludedmembersoftheresearchcommunityaswellasrepresentatives
from various government agencies and commercial entities (including airlines).
These workshops made it clear that there has not been enough communication
between the research community and users who need turbulence information to
make operational decisions about where to fly. This book aims to foster that
communication, by summarizing recent progress and encouraging future research
in this area. In some ways, it is very similar in scope to the Proceedings of a
SymposiumonClearAirTurbulenceanditsDetectionheldattheBoeingCompany
inSeattle,Washington,in1968editedbyPaoandGoldburg(1969).However,there
has not been anything similar published since then, which is surprising given the
many scientific and operational advances that have taken place in the area of
aviationturbulenceinthelastfewdecades.
Thesignificantadvanceshavebeenintheareasofturbulenceobservationsand
detection, nowcasting, forecasting and verification, and simulation and modeling
studies. Most have been aimed at improving safety for the flying public by appli-
cation to commercial aircraft in cruise, i.e., in the upper troposphere and lower
stratosphere(UTLS).Thisisinpartduetothefactthatmostinjuriestopassengers
andcrewoccurincruise,whentheyaremorelikelytobeunbuckled.Itisalsoduein
part to the interesting research challenges associated with understanding the
sources, dynamics, characteristics, and genesis of turbulence at these altitudes
andthefactthatUTLS turbulenceisthoughttomakeasignificantcontributionto
thetotaldissipationintheatmosphereandmaybecomparabletothatwhichtakes
placeinthesurfaceboundarylayer(e.g.,Cadet1971).TurbulenceintheUTLSis
also of critical importance for stratosphere–troposphere exchange of chemical
constituents. This is not to say there has not been significant progress in under-
standingofturbulenceintheplanetaryboundarylayer(PBL),indeedseveralrecent
v
vi Preface
texts are available on the subject (e.g., Stull 1988; Sorbjan 1989; Kaimal and
Finnigan 1994), and in fact some of the recent research in stable boundary layers
(SBL)mayhaverelevancetoupperlevelturbulenceaswell,butPBLturbulenceis
notthefocusofthisbook.
Thebookisnotintendedtobeusedasastand-alonetextbookforturbulenceor
evenatextbookforaviationturbulence.Theseareprovidedinthetextsreferenced
aboveandmanyotherstoonumeroustolistseparately,althoughmentionshouldbe
madetothosebooksandscholarlyreviewsthatareparticularlyrelevanttoaviation
turbulence, including Pao and Goldburg (1969), Burnham (1970), Dutton (1971),
Vinnichenkoetal.(1980),Leeetal.(1984),CampandFrost(1987),Bedard(1993),
Lester (1994), Knox (1997), Sharman (2005), Wolff and Sharman (2008), Lane
etal.(2012),Sharmanetal.(2012),andEllrodetal.(2015).Itis,however,intended
for a wide range of readers with minimal assumed background knowledge. Some
familiaritywithmeteorologyisassumed,butperhapsnotanintimateknowledgeof
turbulence properties. For some readers, the material contained in the chapters
wouldbeareviewandforothersanintroduction.Wehopethetopicscoveredwill
encourageinterestbythereadersandfosterfurtherresearchthatissorelyneededto
makerealprogressintheseareas.
The book is structured into five main sections providing background material,
reviews and applications of detection strategies, forecast and nowcast methods
and their verification, observational and modeling studies, and finally discussions
of future opportunities and research needs. Each major section contains several
chaptersforatotalof25chapters.Theauthorsofeachchapterwerechosenbecause
oftheirexpertiseintheirarea,andeverychapterhasbeenpeerreviewedbyatleast
two other experts. We thank all the authors for their contributions, all of the
anonymous reviewers who helped considerably with comments and reviews on a
numberofchapters,andthemanysponsorsoftheworkovertheyearsthathaveled
to this compilation. Finally, we pay tribute to our late friend and colleague Rod
Frehlich, who inspired us with his enthusiasm for research in this area over the
manyyearsweworkedtogether.
Boulder,CO RobertSharman
Melbourne,VIC,Australia ToddLane
References
Bedard, A.J., Jr.: Atmospheric turbulence aloft: A review of possible methods for detection,
warning, and validation of predictive models. In: 31st Aerospace Sciences Meeting and
Exhibit,AIAA93–0847,Reno,NV(1993)
Burnham,J.:Atmosphericgusts—AreviewoftheresultsofsomerecentresearchattheRoyal
AircraftEstablishment.Mon.Wea.Rev.98(10),723–734(1970)
Cadet,D.:Energydissipationwithinintermittentclearairturbulencepatches.J.Atmos.Sci.34(1),
137–142(1977)
Preface vii
Camp, D.W., Frost, W.: Atmospheric turbulence relevant to aviation, Missile, and Space Pro-
grams.In:NASAConf.Pub.2468(1987)
Dutton,J.:Clear-airturbulence,aviation,andatmosphericscience.Rev.Geophys.SpacePhys.9,
613–657(1971).doi:10.1029/RG009i003p00613
Ellrod, G.P., Knox, J.A., Lester, P.F., Ehernberger, L.J.: Clear air turbulence. In: North,
G.R.(editor-in-chief), Pyle,J.,Zhang, F.(eds.) Encyclopedia ofthe Atmospheric Sciences,
2ndedn,vol.1,pp.177–186(2015)
Kaimal,J.C.,Finnigan,J.J.:AtmosphericBoundaryLayerFlows:TheirStructureandMeasure-
ment.OxfordUniversityPress,NewYork(1994)
Knox,J.A.:Possiblemechanismsofclear-airturbulenceinstronglyanticyclonicflows.Mon.Wea.
Rev.125,1251–1259(1997)
Lane, T.P., Sharman, R.D., Trier, S.B., Fovell, R.G., Williams, J.K.: Recent advances in the
understanding of near-cloud turbulence. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 93(4), 499–515 (2012).
doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00062.1
Lee, D.R., Stull, R.B., Irvine, W.S.: Clear air turbulence forecasting techniques. In: Air Force
WeatherServiceReportAFGWC/TN-79-001(REV)(1984)
Lester,P.F.:Turbulence:ANewPerspectiveforPilots.JeppesenSanderson,Inc.,Englewood,CO
(1993)
Pao,Y.-H.,Goldburg,A.:ClearAirTurbulenceandItsDetection.PlenumPress,NewYork(1969)
Sharman, R.: Clear air turbulence. In: Scott, A. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Nonlinear Science.
Routledge,NewYork(2005)
Sharman,R.D.,Trier,S.B.,Lane,T.P.,Doyle,J.D.:Sourcesanddynamicsofturbulenceinthe
uppertroposphereandlowerstratosphere:Areview.Geophys.Res.Lett.39,L12803(2012).
doi:10.1029/2012GL051996
Sorbjan,Z.:StructureoftheAtmosphericBoundaryLayer.PrenticeHall,NewJersey(1989)
Stull,R.:AnIntroductiontoBoundaryLayerMeteorology.SpringerNetherlands(1988)
Vinnichenko,N.K.,Pinus,N.Z.,Shmeter,S.M.,Shur,G.N.:TurbulenceintheFreeAtmosphere.
Plenum,NewYork(1980)
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Contents
PartI Background
1 NatureofAviationTurbulence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
RobertSharman
2 AHistoryofWeatherReportingfromAircraftandTurbulence
ForecastingforCommercialAviation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
TomFahey,EmilyN.Wilson,RoryO’Loughlin,MelissaThomas,
andStephanieKlipfel
3 InstabilitiesConducivetoAviationTurbulence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Yuh-LangLin
4 TurbulenceEventsInterpretedbyVortexRolls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
BobLunnon
PartII TurbulenceDetectionMethodsandApplications
5 AirborneInSituMeasurementsofTurbulence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
LarryB.Cornman
6 DopplerRadarMeasurementsofTurbulence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
LarryB.CornmanandRobertK.Goodrich
7 RemoteTurbulenceDetectionUsingGround-BasedDoppler
WeatherRadar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
JohnK.WilliamsandGregoryMeymaris
8 RelationshipsBetweenLightningandConvectiveTurbulence. . . . 179
WiebkeDeierlingandJohnK.Williams
9 LIDAR-BasedTurbulenceIntensityforAviationApplications. . . . 193
P.W.Chan
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