An aircraft initiated a go-around due to a wind shear alert in the cockpit. The reporter thinks it m...

Narrative:

Aircraft X was in-trail of a B737-900 who had just gone around. About a 2.5 mile final; I observed aircraft X climbing out of 1200 feet and they stated they were going around for a wind shear alert on board the aircraft. I gave standard missed approach procedure and shipped them to departure control. I advised the next three or four arrivals and the single departure I had about the report and all others stated the wind was calm and they had no encounter. When aircraft X came back around; I explained to them that they were behind a B737-900 that had gone around; and I suspected that they had encountered wake turbulence from this aircraft; as we have heard the newer generation of aircraft can have quite a nasty wake turbulence generated from the efficient wing. They acknowledged and landing having encountered no wind at all on final.I could only recommend that when I advised them the preceding arrival went around; I would have reiterated that it was a B737-900; however; this may have meant not a thing to the pilot upon receipt. I just don't know what information they are being provided regarding aircraft wake anymore.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An aircraft initiated a go-around due to a wind shear alert in the cockpit. The reporter thinks it may have been Wake Turbulence generated by a preceding B737-900.

Narrative: Aircraft X was in-trail of a B737-900 who had just gone around. About a 2.5 mile final; I observed Aircraft X climbing out of 1200 feet and they stated they were going around for a wind shear alert on board the aircraft. I gave standard missed approach procedure and shipped them to departure control. I advised the next three or four arrivals and the single departure I had about the report and all others stated the wind was calm and they had no encounter. When Aircraft X came back around; I explained to them that they were behind a B737-900 that had gone around; and I suspected that they had encountered wake turbulence from this aircraft; as we have heard the newer generation of aircraft can have quite a nasty wake turbulence generated from the efficient wing. They acknowledged and landing having encountered no wind at all on final.I could only recommend that when I advised them the preceding arrival went around; I would have reiterated that it was a B737-900; however; this may have meant not a thing to the pilot upon receipt. I just don't know what information they are being provided regarding aircraft wake anymore.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1337257
Time
Date	201603
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SFO.Airport
State Reference	CA
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	B737-900
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Local
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 16
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter

An aircraft initiated a go-around due to a wind shear alert in the cockpit. The reporter thinks it may have been wake turbulence generated by a preceding B737-900.