On Friday, 10 January 2014 22:01:28 UTC+2, wrote:

There are second order effects -- thermals don't drift exactly with the wind, you may be able to bump more or less effectively depending on wind, etc. But it would take a whole new generation of theory and software to begin to quantify these effects.


John Cochrane

Yes, theoretically *if* thermals would drift perfectly with wind, there wouldn't be any windshear across thermals, resulting that they would be completely symmetrical (round). Or they would ascend at impossible angles (2 m/s thermal drifting in 20 m/s wind would result 1:10 angle).

Flying under clouds with real-time wind information is quite revealing.

krasw