--- title: Climate Change Could Make Turbulence on Flights Worse description: Climate change could cause much greater rates of severe turbulence on flights, researchers found. canonical: https://time.com/4969254/climate-change-turbulence/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-04T17:33:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:43:50.646Z article:section: Science og:title: The Surprising Reason Why Airplane Turbulence Could Get a Lot Worse og:description: Buckle up og:url: https://time.com/4969254/climate-change-turbulence/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17c75a561cdef63b/6988e085e76ad26ece62f6b0/climate-change-air-turbulence.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Businessman fastening his seatbelt for safety og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Surprising Reason Why Airplane Turbulence Could Get a Lot Worse twitter:description: Buckle up twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17c75a561cdef63b/6988e085e76ad26ece62f6b0/climate-change-air-turbulence.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Surprising Reason Why Airplane Turbulence Could Get a Lot Worse by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 4, 2017 5:33 PM UTC  Close-up of businessman fastening security belt in airplane Close-up of businessman fastening security belt in airplaneshironosov—Getty Images/iStockphoto by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 4, 2017 5:33 PM UTC Climate-related [travel issues](http://time.com/4952119/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-flights-airlines/) aren’t just limited to natural disasters — in the coming decades, [climate change](http://time.com/4803767/betsy-devos-climate-change-paris-agreement-accord-president-donald-trump/) could cause much greater rates of severe turbulence on flights, researchers found. According to a new study published Tuesday in the journal [_Geophysical Research Letters_](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL074618/full), global warming could increase severe turbulence during flights because of greater rates of wind instabilities at high altitudes. This would make rough pockets much more commonplace, [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/04/climate-change-will-increase-the-risk-of-severe-turbulence-on-planes-research-says.html) reports. The result would be higher rates of severe turbulence around the world by 2050 to 2080\. At an altitude of 39,000 feet, severe turbulence would increase by 181% over the North Atlantic, 161% over Europe, 113% over North America, 92% over the North Pacific, 64% percent over Asia, 62% over South America, 53% over Australia and 51% over Africa, the researchers say. “While turbulence does not usually pose a major danger to flights, it is responsible for hundreds of passenger injuries every year,” said Luke Storer, a PhD researcher who worked on the study. “It is also by far the most common cause of serious injuries to flight attendants. Turbulence is thought to cost United States air carriers up to $200 million annually.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4969254/climate-change-turbulence/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4969254/climate-change-turbulence/"},"headline":"The Surprising Reason Why Airplane Turbulence Could Get a Lot Worse","datePublished":"2017-10-04T17:33:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:43:50.646Z","description":"Buckle up","url":"https://time.com/4969254/climate-change-turbulence/","keywords":["Airlines","climate change","onetime","onetimetravel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17c75a561cdef63b/6988e085e76ad26ece62f6b0/climate-change-air-turbulence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17c75a561cdef63b/6988e085e76ad26ece62f6b0/climate-change-air-turbulence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Businessman fastening his seatbelt for safety","caption":"Businessman fastening his seatbelt for safety","creditText":"shironosov—Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/airlines/","name":"Airlines"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4969254/climate-change-turbulence/","name":"The Surprising Reason Why Airplane Turbulence Could Get a Lot Worse"}}]}] ```