Atmospheric gravity waves and aircraft turbulence encounters.

Abstract

We describe aircraft turbulence-atmospheric gravity wave events which occurred during a 2-day period over the Continental Divide. The waves are observed by two microbarograph networks on each side of the divide and last for several hours at a time. We show them to be unstable modes of jet stream, corresponding to propagating internal gravity waves. We also show that the position of aircraft-reported turbulence coincides with the critical levels of the waves.-Authors