If you've been experiencing bumpier flights lately, then it's not in your imagination – turbulence is on the rise, according to the experts.
While much of it can be predictable and therefore avoided by experienced pilots, since the weather is getting evermore unpredictable, airlines are having to discover and utilise newer technology to keep track.
Here we outline all the different types of turbulence, and how uncomfortable they can realistically make a flight.
Clear air turbulence
This is the one that's made the headlines lately. Clear air turbulence is defined by the US Federal Aviation Administration as “sudden severe turbulence occurring in cloudless regions that causes violent buffeting of aircraft”.
This most commonly takes place at higher altitudes and is associated with the jet stream – fast-flowing air currents that move from west to east in the upper atmosphere.
A study earlier this year by the University of Reading found climate change had increased the temperature difference between the pole and the equator over the North Atlantic, intensifying the vertical wind shear of the jet stream. This means the change in the speed of west-to-east winds becomes more pronounced with altitude, thereby boosting the chance for clear air turbulence.
This type of turbulence is unpredictable. But Captain Michael Schreiber, chief of pilot technical operations at Emirates, tells The National the Dubai airline, for example, is investing heavily in new technologies to make predictions more accurate. The airline’s pilots also receive training on how to deal with it.
“Practical training around turbulence avoidance and management is conducted in the flight simulator,” he explains. “Pilots are instructed how to navigate around areas of turbulence and how to ensure the safety of our passengers and crew in cases where turbulence is encountered in-flight.”
Wake turbulence
This type of turbulence is generated by aircraft vortices – circular patterns of rotating air left behind by a wing as it generates lift – or jetwash, which are gases expelled from the engine. It happens when one aircraft crosses paths with another, creating wing tip trailing vortices from the leading plane.
This is predictable and avoidable, and it's why planes have designated minimum separation distances from each other.
Thermal (convective) turbulence
Turbulence can occur on warm summer days, as the sun heats the earth's surface unevenly, causing the warm air to rise in columns and cooler air to descend. As planes fly in and out of these isolated convective currents, the flight experiences bumpy conditions. Rocky or sandy surfaces will also heat more rapidly than grassy fields or water.
Pilots therefore often prefer to fly in the early morning or evening when the thermal activity is not as severe.
It can be particularly prevalent when approaching a landing area, says weather.gov, since the moving convective currents vary in intensity, potentially causing an aircraft to veer from its glide path and over or undershoot the runway.
Frontal turbulence
Warm air is lifted by the sloping frontal surface of a cold air mass, causing friction between the two opposing masses and producing turbulence in the frontal zone. Frontal zones in aviation, also known as fronts, are regions of considerable weather activity.
Weather.gov says this type of turbulence is most marked when the warm air is moist and unstable, leading to a risk of thunderstorms, which would cause more severe bumpiness.
Mechanical turbulence
This is caused by friction between the air and the ground, generated by irregular landscapes or man-made objects (such as skyscrapers) found at low altitudes.
The obstacles cause the obstruction of airflow and the intensity of turbulence will depend on the strength of the surface wind, nature of the surface and the air stability. So, if the wind speed is strong, the terrain is rough and the air is unstable, this would create the greatest turbulence.
Mountain wave turbulence
Weather.gov also defines mountain wave turbulence as a form of mechanical turbulence, whereas other resources define this in its own category.
This occurs when strong eddies – whirls of air – are found downwind from mountain ridges. Mountain waves can produce some of the most severe turbulence associated with mechanical agencies.
It has also been known to cause structural damage to aircraft and result in a loss of control.
Thunderstorm turbulence
While planes can veer away from storm clouds, this is only the visible part of a turbulent region in a thunderstorm, and updrafts and downdrafts can often extend as much as 24 to 48 kilometres outside of the storm, with severe turbulence still possible.
As long as pilots know where these storm clouds are, however, it is possible to avoid this type of turbulence with up-to-date technologies and weather-predicting tools.
Wind shear
Where the FAA defines wind shear as an association with clear air turbulence, weather.gov separates it as its own type. This is the change in wind direction and/or wind speed over a specific horizontal or vertical distance.
Wind shears exist in atmospheric conditions such as areas of temperature inversions, along troughs (an area of low pressure) and around jet stream. When the change in speed or direction is strong, severe turbulence can be expected.
Temperature inversions
Again, weather.gov includes temperature inversions within the description for wind shear, whereas other resources may define it as its own type of turbulence.
In zones of strong stability, the stable low layer can be prevented from mixing with the warmer layer above and therefore lead to temperature inversions. “The greatest shear, and thus the greatest turbulence, is found at the tops of the inversion layer,” says weather.gov.
This type of turbulence can occur due to night-time cooling of the Earth's surface.
The six points:
1. Ministers should be in the field, instead of always at conferences
2. Foreign diplomacy must be left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation
3. Emiratisation is a top priority that will have a renewed push behind it
4. The UAE's economy must continue to thrive and grow
5. Complaints from the public must be addressed, not avoided
6. Have hope for the future, what is yet to come is bigger and better than before
The biog
Favourite film: Motorcycle Dairies, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Kagemusha
Favourite book: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Holiday destination: Sri Lanka
First car: VW Golf
Proudest achievement: Building Robotics Labs at Khalifa University and King’s College London, Daughters
Driverless cars or drones: Driverless Cars
How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: N2 Technology
Founded: 2018
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Startups
Size: 14
Funding: $1.7m from HNIs
SPECS
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ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope
Defenders: John Stones, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Ashley Young, Danny Rose, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Midfielders: Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph
Forwards: Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS
AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas
DevisionX – manufacturing
Event Gates – security and manufacturing
Farmdar – agriculture
Farmin – smart cities
Greener Crop – agriculture
Ipera.ai – space digitisation
Lune Technologies – fibre-optics
Monak – delivery
NutzenTech – environment
Nybl – machine learning
Occicor – shelf management
Olymon Solutions – smart automation
Pivony – user-generated data
PowerDev – energy big data
Sav – finance
Searover – renewables
Swftbox – delivery
Trade Capital Partners – FinTech
Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment
Workfam – employee engagement
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Match statistics
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 36 Bahrain 32
Harlequins
Tries: Penalty 2, Stevenson, Teasdale, Semple
Cons: Stevenson 2
Pens: Stevenson
Bahrain
Tries: Wallace 2, Heath, Evans, Behan
Cons: Radley 2
Pen: Radley
Man of the match: Craig Nutt (Harlequins)
Omar Yabroudi's factfile
Born: October 20, 1989, Sharjah
Education: Bachelor of Science and Football, Liverpool John Moores University
2010: Accrington Stanley FC, internship
2010-2012: Crystal Palace, performance analyst with U-18 academy
2012-2015: Barnet FC, first-team performance analyst/head of recruitment
2015-2017: Nottingham Forest, head of recruitment
2018-present: Crystal Palace, player recruitment manager