Is Global Warming Causing Aircraft Turbulence to Increase?
6 hours ago Guest Blogger 7 Comments
After the turbulence encounter by a Singapore Airlines aircraft, there has been a slew of articles claiming that severe turbulence incidents are rapidly increasing due to global warming. The articles below in the Seattle Times and on the BBC are just two of hundreds of such stories
Several stories have been quite specific stating that turbulence has increased 55% in 50 years, based on a study by investigators at the University of Reading.
Is any of this true? As I will describe below, there are substantial problems with these apocalyptic claims of radically more bumpy skies.
But before we discuss these turbulence claims, keep in mind that aircraft turbulence can be caused by several different mechanisms, and not all of them are related to changes in climate.
Much of the turbulence is due to convection associated with big cumulus clouds, like cumulonimbus, which produce thunderstorms. The turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight was associated with tropical convection.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/05/29/is-global-warming-causing-aircraft-turbulence-to-increase/
