Aviation Turbulence: Processes, Detection, Prediction

Anyone who has experienced turbulence in flight knows that it is usually not pleasant, and may wonder why this is so difficult to avoid. The book includes papers by various aviation turbulence researchers and provides background into the nature and causes of atmospheric turbulence that affect aircraft motion, and contains surveys of the latest techniques for remote and in situ sensing and forecasting of the turbulence phenomenon. It provides updates on the state-of-the-art research since earlier studies in the 1960s on clear-air turbulence, explains recent new understanding into turbulence generation by thunderstorms, and summarizes future challenges in turbulence prediction and avoidance.

Dr. Robert Sharman is a project scientist at the Research Applications Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO, U.S.A.   Over the last 20 years he has been deeply involved in aviation turbulence research programs there, and oversees development of automated turbulence prediction systems and research into free atmosphere turbulence characterization using high resolution fluid dynamical numerical simulations to better define the turbulence structures associated with severe turbulence encounters by aircraft. 

Dr. Sharman is author or co-author of over 60 scientific articles in professional journals, primarily on the subjects of aviation turbulence prediction, turbulence characterization, topographically-induced, convectively-induced and shear-induced gravity waves and turbulence.  He is a recipient of the SCIENTFIC AMERICAN Top 50 Scientists Award for 2003.

Dr. Todd Lane is currently an Associate Professor and Reader in the School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia. He obtained his PhD from Monash University, Australia in 2000 and between 2000-2005 he was a postdoctoral fellow and research scientist at National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado USA. Over his career his research has focused on many aspects of meteorology, including thunderstorms, atmospheric gravity waves, topographic flows, and turbulence. Over the last 15 years he has applied state-of-the-art computer models to problems in aviation turbulence, with particular emphasis on the links between thunderstorms, waves and clear-air turbulence. 

Dr. Lane is author or co-author of over 50 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. He was 2014-2015 President of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, and is currently a Chief Investigator of the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science. He has received awards from the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, the American Meteorological Society, the Australian Academy of Science, and NASA.