Context:
Recent incidents of severe turbulence affecting a Singapore Airlines flight over Myanmar and a Qatar Airways flight over Turkey underscore the increasing impact of rapid air traffic growth and climate change. While turbulence is a common occurrence on flights worldwide, episodes resulting in serious injuries are rare, pointing to emerging challenges in aviation safety due to these factors.
Relevance:
GS I: Geography
Dimensions of the Article:
- Understanding Flight-Turbulence: Causes and Types
- Impact of Climate Change on Flight-Turbulence
Understanding Flight-Turbulence: Causes and Types
Definition of Flight-Turbulence:
- Turbulence refers to the irregular motion of air caused by eddies and vertical currents.
- It can range from minor bumps to severe conditions that may throw an airplane out of control or cause structural damage.
- Turbulence is often associated with weather fronts, wind shear, thunderstorms, and other atmospheric phenomena.
Effects of Flight-Turbulence:
- Turbulence can affect the smoothness of a flight, causing varying levels of disruption to the aircraft’s altitude and attitude.
Types of Flight-Turbulence:
- Light Turbulence: Causes slight, momentary changes in altitude, resulting in minor bumpiness.
- Moderate Turbulence: Leads to more noticeable changes in altitude and attitude, but the aircraft remains well-controlled.
- Severe Turbulence: Involves significant and sudden changes in altitude and attitude, potentially causing the aircraft to momentarily go out of control.
- Extreme Turbulence: The aircraft is violently tossed and becomes practically uncontrollable.
Causes of Flight-Turbulence:
- Mechanical Turbulence: Results from friction between the air and the ground, including irregular terrain and man-made obstacles, leading to the formation of eddies.
- Convective or Thermal Turbulence: Occurs when hot air from certain ground surfaces rises rapidly while cooler air descends, creating convective air currents.
- Frontal Turbulence: Caused by the friction between two opposing air masses and the lifting of warm air by a sloping frontal surface, commonly near thunderstorms.
- Wind Shear: Involves changes in wind direction or speed over a specific horizontal or vertical distance, often near jet streams or in temperature inversion areas.
- Clear Air Turbulence (CAT): A type of wind shear turbulence that can be sudden, severe, and difficult to forecast or see.
Impact of Climate Change on Flight-Turbulence:
Increasing Frequency and Severity:
- Studies suggest that climate change may increase the frequency and severity of turbulence.
- Jet Streams: Climate change strengthens jet streams, which contribute to turbulence.
- Clear Air Turbulence (CAT): There has been a significant increase in CAT between 1979 and 2020, especially at mid and aircraft cruising altitudes.
- North Atlantic: Severe CAT durations over the North Atlantic have increased by more than 55% during this period.
Broader Impact:
- The frequency of severe turbulence is expected to rise more than that of light or moderate turbulence.
- Other types of turbulence, such as mountain wave turbulence and near-cloud turbulence, will also intensify due to climate change.
-Source: Indian Express
