Is Airplane turbulence at cruising altitudes correlated with global warming ? Is there a metric to quantify such turbulence ?
Assuming it is correlated with climate change, How much worse has it gotten over the past 50 years and how much worse can it get ?
Asking because I have taken a few very bumpy flights this summer
Yes.
ScienceShot: Climate Change Will Boost Plane Turbulence | Science | AAAS
Jet stream study confirms aircraft turbulence risk from climate change (phys.org)
Climate change to increase clear-air turbulence threefold | Royal Meteorological Society (rmets.org)
@bump - thank you. I feel silly that I did not search for it before posting.
The common expectation for business travel is to drive to work after a flight. I’ve found that getting harder with the bumpier flights.
Can you elaborate? You have trouble driving because you’re still recovering from motion sickness, or you have trouble driving because you couldn’t sleep during the flight?
I was on a flight once that lost cabin pressure mid-flight, had to lose altitude in a hurry, oxygen masks were deployed and there was an emergency landing. It was total panic all around and I had severe earache that followed for days.
Since then, I get very anxious in turbulence and end up getting a head splitting headache when there is too much of it.
Because the deserts and semi-arid lands can get hotter, they can get higher and higher pressure, and so they don’t let the low pressure or trough shift in over the continent. When the high pressure systems grow larger, the lows and the troughs grow larger too. larger means stronger winds and stronger wind shear… stronger thermals, stronger thunderstorms, heavier rain.
Troughs are like a jet stream… jet stream is the high level wind going around the equator… troughs branch off and take humid tropical air down to the the middling latitudes… They often live at the east of the continent… When the middle of the continent has larger high pressures, the troughs grow longer and stronger too, so its harder to fly around , and it lives longer too… hence it can be found more days … so your trip can hit the trough more often…
The high pressure can be trapped at ground level, so a cool wind blowing can create a wind shear…
The turbulence could be from thermals, due to the hot conditions below causing a inward flow of cooler air at ground level, coming off the seas, Or connect with a trough for supply of humid air… contributing to more afternoon thunderstorms… the cumulus nimbus towering high up into the atmosphere due to the thermal creating it…
or the turbulence can be from the troughs… which grew stronger and larger with the drought in the middle of the continent. … See the longer trough more often takes that humid air down to the east coast… so leaving the centre dry… it helps keep the center of the continent in drought… and the east coast in flood. ( North africa becoming drier ? )
The higher the pressure differences around, the stronger things are… the winds are stronger … the difference in winds at the wind shear can create more turbulence… in a system which is larger and harder to avoid.
I can understand how one scary experience can primes one for greater anxiety over smaller stimuli. Maybe you can use some conscious CBT sort of mental habit to mitigate the unconscious emotional reactions you’re experienceing.
Recognize that turbulence and depressurization are utterly unrelated. And the normal amount of turbulence even on an especially bumpy flight is so far below the threshold of risk to the airplane and occupants as to be negligble.
Your biggest risk on a very bumpy flight is the big dummy who gets up to use the bathroom and stumbles near your seat and ends up landing on you or poking your face with an elbow as they try to catch themselves on the way to the floor.
Thank you. I will try out your recommendation
Since the factual aspects of this have been adequately answered and we’re now veering off into IMHO territory, let’s move this to IMHO (from FQ).
Not sure about turbulence, but I’m convinced a similar thing is happening to water (and waves).
We used to be avid barefooters, which requires very smooth water. Over the years we noticed the increasing days where we had to give up due to wind and waves, and resort to water skis instead. Then that pastime fell victim to even more wind & waves and forced us toward wakeboarding. I suspect the decrease in the old style skiing sports in favor of wakeboards is partially due to fewer days with smooth water.
This article talks about the increase in wave action, along with the increase in wave energy.