In addition, moderate turbulence jumped from 70.0 to 96.1 hours, while light turbulence hit 546.8 hours, up from 466.5.
"[This] doesn't necessarily mean planes are encountering turbulence, clear air turbulence, 55% more often because, of course, planes try and avoid it and they've been getting very good at avoiding it," he said.
"Although the radar on the flight deck can't see … clear air turbulence, there's a related technology called LIDAR that stands for light detection and ranging," Williams said.
"By using that different wavelength of light, we can see invisible clear air turbulence ahead," he said.
"Unfortunately it's very expensive and also comes in a big heavy box, which you don't want really to go on a plane to add weight onto the aircraft," Williams said.
Persons:
Joe Giddens, Paul Williams, they've, Williams, Mark Prosser, Prosser, LIDAR, it's
Organizations:
Research, World Meteorological Organization, University of Reading, Atlantic, CAT, Aircraft, Istock, Getty, CNBC
Locations:
Northamptonshire, England, USA