Numerical simulation of a Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) event over Northern India using WRF modeling system

Gitesh Wasson (), Someshwar Das and S. K. Panda ()
Additional contact information
Gitesh Wasson: Central University of Rajasthan
Someshwar Das: Central University of Rajasthan
S. K. Panda: Central University of Rajasthan

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2022, vol. 114, issue 3, No 9, 2605-2631

Abstract: Abstract Atmospheric turbulence is a primary meteorological hazard to en-route air traffic. Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) occurs when severe turbulence occurs in a statically stable shear layer. The role of CAT in various processes in the atmosphere is still ambiguous. An Air India flight AI462 encountered severe CAT on 19 April 2018. The present study simulates the CAT event and is focused on understanding and investigating favorable conditions for the occurrence of CAT. Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model V4.0.3 has been used to simulate turbulence. The model was integrated for 48 h at 0000 UTC of 18 April 2018 using 6-hourly NCEP FNL Operational Global Analysis data at 0.25° × 0.25° resolution as input to provide the model's initial and lateral boundary conditions. There are two domains (D01 and D02) in the ratio of 3:1 (6 km:2 km) resolution. For simulating the atmospheric environments during the event, Yonsei University Scheme, WSM 3-Class Simple Ice Scheme, Kain–Fritsch (New-Eta) Scheme, Rapid Radiative Transfer Model (RRTM) Scheme, and Revised MM5 Monin–Obukhov Scheme are used. This study shows that vertical velocity, geopotential thickness, wind shear, and Bulk Richardson Number Shear are correlated with CAT as the model predicted both upward (6–8 m/s) and downward (− 2 m/s) wind velocity very close to each other between 400 and 550 hPa levels along with strong geopotential thickness gradient and strong wind shear gradient near the accident location. This could lead to CAT. CAT dissipates as we go higher in the atmosphere above 550 hPa.

Keywords: Clear air turbulence; Vertical wind shear; CAT index; Ellrod’s Index; Aviation meteorology; Aircraft hazards (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-022-05481-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:114:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11069-022-05481-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11069

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-022-05481-x

Access Statistics for this article

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards is currently edited by Thomas Glade, Tad S. Murty and Vladimír Schenk

More articles in Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards from Springer, International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().