Wind turbulence can be categorized as wind shear, microburst, wake vortex, and crosswind. The Profiler technology can detect and measure all of these categories:

Wind Shear - difference in wind speed and/or direction in the atmosphere

• Wind shear directly caused or contributed to many well-known major aviation disasters in the U.S
• Wind shear can be either horizontal or vertical

Microburst - very localized column of sinking air

• Extreme downdraft hits the ground creating sudden intense horizontal head/tail winds.
• The scale and suddenness of a microburst makes it a great danger to aircraft, particularly those at low altitude which are taking off and landing.

Wake Vortex - turbulence created by wings of larger airplanes

• Wake vortex forms behind an aircraft as it passes through the air. This turbulence can be especially hazardous during the landing and take off phases of flight.
• Current airport/runway capacity could be increased if specific locations of wake vortex problem spots were known.

Crosswind - constant or gusty wind perpendicular to flight path and runway

• Crosswind speed and direction are the only phenomena measured by the traditional windsock, but then only at the ground level location of the windsock