Evaluation of a technique to quantify microburst windshear hazard potential to aircraft

Author

Byrd, G.P. ; Proctor, F.H. ; Bowles, R.L.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Earth Sci., State Univ. of New York, Brockport, NY, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

5-7 Dec 1990

Firstpage

689

Abstract

A wind shear hazard index, known as the F-factor, is investigated for application with look-ahead sensors. Based on data from microburst simulations with the NASA windshear model, the downdraft results in a significant contribution to the wind shear hazard, especially at altitudes above 150 meters. Since most look-ahead wind shear sensors can detect only horizontal shear and cannot measure vertical velocity, a relationship is developed for approximating the total F-factor using information based solely on the horizontal wind shear and altitude. This relationship is then tested using data from several microburst cases

Keywords

aerospace testing; aircraft; aircraft instrumentation; atmospheric boundary layer; detectors; remote sensing by radar; safety; thunderstorms; wind; 150 m; F-factor; NASA; aircraft; atmosphere; boundary layer; downdraft results; hazard index; horizontal wind shear; look-ahead sensors; measurement; microburst windshear hazard potential; radar; remote sensing; storm; technique; thunderstorm; Accidents; Aircraft; Educational institutions; FAA; Geoscience; Hazards; NASA; Postal services; Velocity measurement; Wind;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Decision and Control, 1990., Proceedings of the 29th IEEE Conference on

Conference_Location

Honolulu, HI

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CDC.1990.203682

Filename

203682