This is the change that already affects all aircraft - Top Buzz Times Our skies are getting bumpier, making the need to understand and predict turbulence increasingly urgent. Researchers propose birds could provide clues.
When you look up, the sky may seem calm – still even – but air is always on the move. Fluid, it flows like water, with eddies and currents, sometimes smooth and serene, sometimes tumultuous and violent. Turbulence is one of the most unpredictable of all weather phenomena. And research shows that severe turbulence is becoming more likely as the planet warms.
If an aircraft strikes it, the most turbulent air can cause injuries or even death, as well as structural damage to planes. On Tuesday, a Singapore Airlines flight from London encountered severe turbulence: 31 people were injured, and one died. Passengers aboard the Boeing 777-300ER told the BBC the plane began to tilt and shake, before dropping suddenly, and "people and objects were thrown around the cabin".
Could there be better ways to predict and cope with turbulence? Some researchers believe that answers lie in the animal world.
Birds often encounter choppy skies. While only a few species reach the height of a cruising commercial aircraft, studying how they respond at lower altitudes could help meteorologists build better models to predict turbulence, says Emily Shepard, an expert in bird flight and air flow at Swansea University in Wales. And that's not all we could learn from our avian friends: some species have adapted to deal with "extreme turbulence", she says. Analysing how they exploit it to their advantage could inform aircraft design, especially in urban environments where smaller aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could fly.
