Comparing bird and human soaring strategies

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dc.creatorAkos, Zsuzsa
dc.creatorNagy, Mate
dc.creatorVicsek, Tamas
dc.date2009-02-02
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T12:37:02Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T12:37:02Z
dc.descriptionGliding saves much energy, and to make large distances using only this form of flight represents a great challenge for both birds and people. The solution is to make use of the so-called thermals, which are localized, warmer regions in the atmosphere moving upwards with a speed exceeding the descent rate of bird and plane. Whereas birds use this technique mainly for foraging, humans do it as a sporting activity. Thermalling involves efficient optimization including the skilful localization of thermals, trying to guess the most favorable route, estimating the best descending rate, etc. In this study, we address the question whether there are any analogies between the solutions birds and humans find to handle the above task. High-resolution track logs were taken from thermalling falcons and paraglider pilots to determine the essential parameters of the flight patterns. We find that there are relevant common features in the ways birds and humans use thermals. In particular, falcons seem to reproduce the MacCready formula widely used by gliders to calculate the best slope to take before an upcoming thermal.
dc.description8 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary materials are available at the webpage dedicated to this work: http://angel.elte.hu/thermalling/
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0902.0312
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0902.0312
dc.identifierAkos Z, Nagy M, Vicsek T (2008) Comparing bird and human soaring strategies. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 105: 4139-4143
dc.identifierdoi:10.1073/pnas.0707711105
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/218297
dc.subjectBiological Physics
dc.subjectOther Quantitative Biology
dc.titleComparing bird and human soaring strategies
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