Convective Induced Turbulence Detection in Oceanic Trajectory-Based Operations

We propose to develop a Convective-Induced Turbulence (CIT) hazard detection system for Oceanic Trajectory-Based Operations (TBO) based on satellite-based observations of lightning and other supporting data. The system is based on total lightning sensing as an indicator of the location and severity of in-cloud CIT. Total lightning activity will be measured over oceanic airspace at high temporal resolution from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series (GOES R) in 2016. This opens up a unique research and business opportunity; we seek to investigate the relationship between CIT and total lightning measurements, and determine the skill of total lightning as an indicator of CIT. We will be able to provide turbulence estimates for oceanic flights and automatically warn airline dispatchers of upcoming weather hazards in TBO over oceanic airspaces.