Turbulence is a major factor affecting flight safety and its study is of great importance in order to improve air transports quality. Aviation-scale turbulence is recorded in situ by commercial aircraft through the Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay (AMDAR) programme. In this study, we analyze a plethora of AMDAR records for an 11-year period (2008–2018) over Europe. The available indicator of turbulence is the Derived Equivalent Vertical Dust Velocity (DEVG), which is an aircraft-independent metric. We focus on two flight level layers, below 5000-ft MSL and over 20,000-ft MSL in order to study the low-level and upper-level heavy-severe (H–S) turbulence, respectively. The seasonal variability is discussed, and the impact of possible turbulence sources is analyzed. Moreover, the vertical distribution of H–S turbulence records is presented. We found a strong impact of the jet stream in the records of the upper-level turbulence events over Europe and an increased number of low-level turbulence events in the southern regions. Low-level H–S turbulence encounter frequencies present a more distinct cycle with a maximum during late spring and early summer and a minimum during autumn months. This seasonal cycle seems to shift a few months later in the upper-level turbulence frequencies with the maximum occurring during late summer and autumn. Moreover, the diurnal variability of the low-level turbulence revealed a maximum before sunrise and a maximum over the continental areas during the midday hours of spring and summer.

湍流是影响飞行安全的主要因素，其研究对于提高航空运输质量具有重要意义。商用飞机通过飞机气象数据中继 (AMDAR) 计划在现场记录航空级湍流。在这项研究中，我们分析了欧洲 11 年（2008-2018 年）的大量 AMDAR 记录。可用的湍流指标是派生等效垂直粉尘速度 (DEVG)，它是一个独立于飞机的指标。我们专注于两个飞行高度层，低于 5000 英尺 MSL 和超过 20,000 英尺 MSL，以分别研究低层和高层重度 (H-S) 湍流。讨论了季节性变化，并分析了可能的湍流源的影响。此外，还给出了 H-S 湍流记录的垂直分布。我们在欧洲上空的高层湍流事件和南部地区的低层湍流事件的记录中发现了急流的强烈影响。低水平 H-S 湍流遭遇频率呈现出更明显的循环，在春末和初夏达到最大值，在秋季月份最低。这个季节性周期似乎在几个月后在高层湍流频率中发生变化，最大值发生在夏末和秋季。此外，低层湍流的日变化在日出前达到最大值，在春夏季的中午时段在大陆地区达到最大值。