Monitoring of aviation turbulence using a tropospheric profiler - case studies

Monitoring of turbulence would be useful for the assurance of aviation safety. However, turbulence data are only scarcely available in the aerospace, e.g., in the terminal area and en-route space of the aircraft. This paper documents the use of eddy dissipation rate as measured by a tropospheric profiler in the detection of upper air turbulence. Two typical cases of turbulence are considered in this paper, namely, intense convective weather associated with subtropical squall lines and turbulence associated with upper air trough / jet stream. Through these case studies, it could be seen that there is signature of enhanced turbulence at times when moderate or severe turbulence is reported by the pilots. The tropospheric profiler provides unprecedented view of the height-time evolution of upper air turbulence inside the troposphere. From a limited number of cases, the eddy dissipation rate data from the profiler is demonstrated to be useful in the monitoring and timely alerting of turbulence in the terminal area of the airport and en-route phase of the aircraft.