The Flight of the Albatross

Dynamic Soaring and the Wandering Albatross

By: Madalyn Redding

Scientists have always been very intrigued by the flight of the Albatross. An Albatross generally has a wingspan between 6.5 and 11 feet. With their massive wings and efficient flight pattern these birds can fly up to 500 miles a day and barely flap their wings. They can fly several hundred miles without flapping their wings once. 

Engineers at MIT have been able to model the wings and flight patterns of the Albatross through physics. The way an Albatross flies is known as dynamic soaring. The bird uses wind patterns that change based on how high above the water the bird is. The air moving closest the the water has the least friction and the lowest amount of wind. As the altitude of the bird increases so does the amount of wind in the air.

One of the most important factors for Albatross flight is the presence of what are known as shear layers. These layers are basically the distance between a layer of fast moving winds and a layer of slower moving winds. Based on findings by MIT engineers they were able to discover that the thinner the shear layer the less wind that is required for the bird to stay in the air. This allows the bird to save more energy because it can move in thin arcs between the fast and slow layers of air rather than in big half circle flight patterns that scientists previously assumed.

This idea may seem counterintuitive because as the bird makes large arcs it would gain much more speed than if it were to turn in small angles. However, the researches found that by examining the ratio between gains and losses due to both speed increase and air drag, the ratio was much better when the bird made smaller turns more often. 

Application

Engineers have been using this data and applying it to the creation of more efficient aircrafts and drones. Research teams at MIT are trying to create drones that can use wind to power them. By flying robot powered crafts in the same flight pattern as the albatross it would allow them to use little to no fuel while covering large distances. 

Looking at this from a forces perspective we can see that air friction plays a huge role in aircraft flight and drone flight today. The force of the different wind speeds on the bird allows it to use these wind forces to power its flight. By taking advantage of these forces it is able to minimize the energy expended. 

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Sources:

http://news.mit.edu/2017/engineers-identify-key-albatross-marathon-flight-1011

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/group/albatrosses/

http://mentalfloss.com/article/67870/10-soaring-facts-about-albatrosses