Why is turbulence in the air more and more common in airplanes?

Hello Lauriane and thanks for the question.

It refers to severe turbulence experienced by passengers on a Singapore Airlines flight between London and Singapore on Tuesday 21 May. The turbulence they caused death of passengers and do 83 injured, including 6 seriously.

Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 crashed “extreme and sudden turbulence” at 11,000 meters above Burma ten hours after takeoff on Tuesday, soaring and diving several times.

Climate change in question

This turbulence is associated with changes in air currents that affect flight stability.

They can be caused thunderstorms, air movement around the mountains, cold or warm air frontsor evenfrom the jet stream – bands of strong winds that circle the Earth at certain latitudes.

Climate change is likely to cause more turbulence, invisible to radar, scientists say.

Serious turbulence is increasing rapidly

“Climate change is increasing the temperature difference between the cold poles and the warm tropics”, these latter “warming faster than the poles at cruising altitudes”explained Paul Williams, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Reading. “This effect results in higher shear in the jet stream, which creates more turbulence.“

According to a study conducted in 2023. the annual duration of turbulence increased by 17% between 1979 and 2020. As for severe turbulence, although a rare occurrence, it has increased by more than 50%.

Clear air turbulence, the most dangerous

As for the flight affected on Tuesday, “the first elements seem to indicate turbulence in clear airthe most dangerous type of turbulence”it is stated in the press release of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents tens of thousands of flight attendants.

This turbulence “in the fresh air” are defined as “sudden and significant turbulence that occurs in cloudless areas and causes the aircraft to shake violently”states the US civil aviation regulator (FAA).

Sincerely