Eagles and other birds spend much of their lives in the turbulence of our atmospheric boundary layer. Some of their interactions with turbulence — like using topographical effects to aid their flight — are well-known, but much remains uncertain. One team of researchers looked at a tagged golden eagle’s flight data, compared with known wind conditions, and looked for evidence of turbulence’s influence. To do this, they drew on years of research into how turbulence interacts with inertial particles — particles that are heavier than the surrounding fluid and thus unable to follow the flow exactly.
What they found is that turbulence seems to be baked into many aspects of the eagle’s flight. Even the basic accelerations of the eagle’s body during flight showed characteristics that match those of turbulent flows. The findings suggest that turbulence — rather than something to be avoided — is an integral part of flight for birds, an energy source they’ve learned to exploit. (Image credit: J. Wang; research credit: K. Laurent et al.; submission by G. Bewley)
Leave a Reply