Description: We address Clear Air Turbulence events which are not identified by the current CAT prediction formulation and commercial products in an effort to reduce damage and injury encountered during long-range commercial flights over oceanic areas. Such events are not uncommon, and occur in areas that are free of clouds, are not located near jet stream/upper frontal shear zones associated with the Ellrod-Knox diagnostic index, and are at large distances from possible "near-cloud" turbulence associated with convective storms. A Transported Turbulence Product (TTP) is proposed which follows the forensic analysis procedures used to evaluate potential causes for such encounters during CAT incident investigations. Should our proposed method prove viable, dispatchers will be able to warn pilots prior to entry into high probability areas for such Transported Turbulence. The timely warnings will allow material and personnel in the cabin to be secured during transit.

Benefits: The methods developed will be useful to aviation and scientific personnel for NASA Flight Operations during Field Experiments, especially for topics involving the tracking and detection of atmospheric trace constituents. Since we are focusing on advection of hazard tracers with warning times on the order of hours, the approach may extend the value of dated NASA observations (hours since collection) without the requirement for real time data delivery. The TTP is delivered in Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) formats which allow immediate import into NASA geobrowser open source technologies. Virtual Globe applications will allow NASA applications for other atmospheric hazards including volcanic aerosols and radionuclides, and is ideal for assembly and analysis of field experiment data on both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial globes.

The aerospace industry is actively pursuing inflight Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) equipment for cockpit solutions as now allowed by FAA regulations. The proposed methods for user tracking of long-range air transport & plume evolution will be useful both on the ground and in flight. The Common Operating Environment will reduce error of interpretation and user workload both on the ground and in the cockpit, which is especially important for icing hazard avoidance during ETOPS (FAA requirement for alternate landing sites in event of depressurization). We plan to offer Transported CAT forecast products and services commercially, and will extend these techniques to volcanic aerosol and radionuclide hazards. Based upon benefits demonstrated at Hawaiian Airlines, any reductions in injury and/or improvements in airline performance will help reduce operations and insurance costs, and will promote sales and competition in the international commercial air transport industry.