Pollution and Turbulence

[Dachiri]

One of my co-workers made this comment a while back, and the more I travel to China, the more it seems to be true. My co-worker commented that the amount of turbulence she experiences in China is greater than what she has experienced in the U.S. and other places, and she thinks it's related to the pollution. We had rough landings in Beijing and Guangzhou on that trip, and my most recent trip featured rough landings and takeoffs in Shanghai. In each of these cases, the weather was pretty good...no rain or high winds. In fact, the turb on all these legs was much worse than what we experienced taking off from Hong Kong on a rainy/windy day where the pilot noted we would have a few bumps getting out. I guess the particulate matter could cause the air to flow less smoothly over the wings, resulting in more bumps?

Sooo...do you have any thoughts on this theory? The pollution in the U.S. never even comes close to what it is in China, but have you noticed any difference in turbulence on, say, code red air quality days?

[Captain Hutch]

Dachiri,

That is a question that I had not thought of. However, I love questions, and this one has me thinking. In the past I have not made any connection between the amount of particulates in the air that flows over the wing and fuselage. My first thoughts are no, that it doesn't matter. We can fly through rain and have a perfectly smooth flight, though of course rain molecules have a much different nature than pollutants. I think each situation would have to be evaluated before thinking that there might be some connection, but I'll keep some of my brain cells pointed in that direction in case anything arises.

Thanks,

Hutch :)

[Barb-SAN]

My co-worker commented that the amount of turbulence she experiences in China is greater than what she has experienced in the U.S. and other places, and she thinks it's related to the pollution. We had rough landings in Beijing and Guangzhou on that trip, and my most recent trip featured rough landings and takeoffs in Shanghai. In each of these cases, the weather was pretty good...no rain or high winds.

That's an interesting question. I can recall turbulence flying over farmland mid-day. There was a difference in the heat radiating off of plowed vs. unplowed fields, which affected the rising air currents. I wonder if factory heat output in China would cause a similar situation? Were the flight paths over factories? (Assuming that's the cause of the pollution...).

[Dachiri]

I did a bit of Googling on this topic and found one article that gives some explanation. The article said that in cities, pollution hitting a building can cause this huge turbulence plume that can be up to 5 times as tall as the building it hits. It's related to the urban heat island. It's possible that this might be a partial explanation, though the Shanghai airport is basically in the middle of nowhere. The worst turbulence was near ground level, so I guess that makes it more likely that the "turbulent pollution plumes" are at least partially responsible for the problem?

There are so many problems in China (both related to pollution and not) that I guess studying how that pollution affects the comfort of airline passengers is low on the list. :)