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Application of Aviation Turbulence Information to Air-Traffic Management (ATM)

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Aviation Turbulence

Abstract

Unexpected turbulence, especially in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere where cabin crews and passengers in cruising aircraft are likely to be unbuckled, causes in-flight injuries, structural damage, and flight delays. Therefore, turbulence information can be used to improve safety while pursuing efficiency in the air-traffic management (ATM). In this chapter, an optimal flight path that minimizes both total flight time (e.g., fuel consumption) and potential encounters of turbulence from departure to arrival airports is derived by combining simple modeling of aircraft flight trajectories with wind and turbulence predictions. In addition, probabilistic ensemble turbulence forecasts, evaluated against in situ eddy dissipation rate turbulence observations from commercial aircraft, are applied to suggest an optimal strategic and tactical ATM route planning for given weather and turbulence conditions in the USA. The variations of long-haul transoceanic flight routes and their turbulence potentials are also investigated using global reanalysis data to understand how the upper-level large-scale flow patterns can affect the long-term ATM planning through the changes of winds and turbulence conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere/Colorado State University (CIRA/CSU) in affiliation with Aviation Weather Center/National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Weather Service/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (AWC/NCEP/NWS/NOAA), 7220 NW 101st Terrace, Kansas City, MO, 64153-2317, USA

    Jung-Hoon Kim

  2. NASA Ames Research Center/Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), Moffett Field, CA, USA

    Jung-Hoon Kim

  3. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA

    William N. Chan & Banavar Sridhar

Authors
  1. Jung-Hoon Kim
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  2. William N. Chan
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  3. Banavar Sridhar
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Correspondence to Jung-Hoon Kim .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research, National Center for Atmospheric, Boulder, Colorado, USA

    Robert Sharman

  2. School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Todd Lane

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Kim, JH., Chan, W.N., Sridhar, B. (2016). Application of Aviation Turbulence Information to Air-Traffic Management (ATM). In: Sharman, R., Lane, T. (eds) Aviation Turbulence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23630-8_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23630-8_24

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23629-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23630-8

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