TURBULENCE: AN IMPORTANT FACTOR FOR FLIGHT OPERATIONS AT ANTARTIC STATION COM. FERRAZ

• Main Authors: Francisco Eliseu Aquino, Luciana Bassi, Marinho Pires, Marcelo Romão, Ana Carolina Vasques, Alberto Setzer
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Admiralty Bay; Antarctic; Ferraz; Keller; Keller peninsula; King George Island; Antarc*; Antarctica; antartic*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1075.6894; http://antartica.cptec.inpe.br/%7Erantar/publicacoes/200612_Aquino_Pires_Romao_Vasques_Setzer_STISS.pdf

Abstract: This study presents the case of an extreme wind gust event that occurred between the 18 th and 19 th of January of 2002, in the Brazilian Antarctic Station (EACF) area, where the near-ground air turbulence hindered a helicopter from landing for more than 10 hours, even under favorable general synoptic conditions. The EACF (62°05'S; 58°23,5'W) is located on the Keller Peninsula (3.8 km long, 2.2 km wide), which is a ridge of elevations between 250 e 360 m msl protruding into Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctica. Turbulence was estimated using the wind gust factor and wind turbulence definitions that are normally applied in engineering studies of applied meteorology.