In early July, dozens of people were injured due to sudden air turbulence in an Air Europa flight from Spain to Uruguay. In late May, one person died and several were injured due to sudden tremors in a Singapore Airlines flight. Turbulence incidents have increased significantly in the last few months. This has raised the question as to why such incidents are increasing? In a study published in the Climate and Atmospheric Pressure journal, climate change has been found to be the reason behind this. According to this, 4 problems are arising due to climate change due to which air turbulence is taking place.
Change in atmospheric temperature:
Due to climate change, the lower atmosphere is getting hotter while the upper atmosphere is getting colder. This is causing chaos in the air flow. According to the study, every one degree Celsius increase in temperature causes 9% to 14% chances of air turbulence.
There may be an increase in air turbulence. This increases the risk of air turbulence. Jet streams becoming unstable: This is challenging for both pilots and passengers. Increasing intensity of storms: Due to climate change, the intensity of storms is also increasing. In fact, when planes pass near storms, they have to face ‘convective turbulence’. Due to this increasing intensity of storms, the possibility of the plane getting jolted increases. Jet streams are a narrow strip of air. Jet streams are generally stable. But due to climate change, there is instability in them. Jet streams becoming unstable.
A report tells that from the year 1979 to 2020 air turbulence problems has risen to 55%. According to study due to climate change the duration of the flights are increasing. And that’s the reason behind inflation in air tickets and duration of flights. To answer these there is a need of change the designs and technology of aeroplanes.