Mysterious Gravity Waves May Explain ....

[keithisco]

This article has seriously got to win the Prize for "Most Ridiculous Article"....

It already assumes that gravity waves even exist (none detected , ever)... but please read on:

"

SAN FRANCISCO — Gravity waves, mysterious waves that ripple unseen throughout the atmosphere, may be a major source of airplane turbulence, a new study suggests.

The new findings, presented Tuesday (Dec. 4) here at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, may help explain why planes get shaky in apparently clear skies. Forecasting those waves may allow planes to reroute around them.

"Just like waves on the ocean, as they approach a beach, they can amplify and break. Gravity waves in the atmosphere can amplify and break, and we're finding now that's a major contributor to turbulence in the atmosphere that affects aircrafts."

Gravity waves form when air traveling up and down in the atmosphere meets resistance. For instance, clouds rising in the troposphere, the lower level of the atmosphere where air mixes freely, will bump up against the boundary of the much more stable stratosphere, forming ripples in the process. These waves can travel up to 180 miles (300 kilometers) before breaking, said Robert Sharman, a meteorologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), who conducted the study."

I think there needs to be a consensus on what is being described here...

LINK is here: http://www.livescience.com/25251-mysterious-gravity-waves-turbulence.html

[Ealdwita]

Translation....."Next year's research grant is due - If we can't blind 'em with science - let's baffle 'em with BS!"

[pallidin]

Ummmm.... I have a little bit of a problem with this.

"Gravity Waves"?

I thought that scientist were dealing with this observation by special satellites, as opposed to Earth's weather conditions.

My understanding(which could well be wrong) is that "gravity waves" are so subtle and weak that it requires a special pair of satellites to even detect them.

So, again in my limited knowledge, this doesn't make much sense.

[bmk1245]

This article has seriously got to win the Prize for "Most Ridiculous Article"....

[...]

Nope. Its the term used in fluid dynamics -> Gravity wave.