Graphical AIRMET by MWO-Kansas City



[pic] | |METWSG/2-IP/4

26/3/09

| | METEOROLOGICAL WARNINGS STUDY GROUP (METWSG)

SECOND MEETING

Montréal, 19 to 21 May 2009

|Agenda Item |5:|Content and issuance of SIGMET |

Graphical AIRMET by MWO-Kansas City

(Presented by Steve Albersheim)

|SUMMARY |

|This paper presents a new process for the creation and use of AIRMET information by the US National Weather |

|Service’s Aviation Weather Center (AWC), as part of their role as MWO-Kansas City, providing the user with more |

|detailed and accurate information, in graphical format, on the location of aviation weather phenomena. |

1. INTRODUCTION

The Meteorological Watch Office (MWO) Kansas City (KKCI) has introduced a graphical AIRMET (G-AIRMET) as an experimental product. The G-AIRMET is going through a final safety risk management (SRM) assessment by the FAA. Upon completion of the SRM it is expected that the G-AIRMET will receive approval from the FAA to be a primary product equivalent to the text AIRMET in support of flight planning and tactical decisions.

The advancement for the G-AIRMET results from users of the National Airspace System requesting a greater level of detail of in-flight advisories. Under current practices, operators can easily be penalized because the hazardous weather shown is too ambiguous and restricts access to useable airspace because of the imprecision of the information provided. Advances in technology now allow forecasters at the AWC to provide an improved product through graphics. Even though ICAO has graphics in Annex 3 — Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation , these graphics are static in that the user can not interact with the graphic. Neither do the graphics improve the accuracy of the information in that the

graphic has to be equivalent to the text. Allowing the graphic to drive the text increases the resolution of information while retaining the principal of consistency between the text and the graphic. Also the G-AIRMET is provided in the WMO BUFR coded format which allows the product to be ingested on many different platforms including in-flight cockpit displays.

The future of in-flight advisories is multi-fold. Users are demanding greater resolution and precision in the forecasts and location of the hazard. Future development of trajectory based operations will require that in-flight advisories be provided in binary data that precisely identify the location of the hazard in time and space. The movement to dynamic graphic vs. a static picture allows users to interact with the product and see a visualization of the hazard rather than trying to interpret latitude and longitude points to define the area of the hazard.

2. DISCUSSION

MWO-Kansas City is located at the U.S. National Weather Service’s Aviation Weather Center (AWC) in Kansas City, Missouri, US. MWO-Kansas City issues AIRMET for the 21 FIR across the contiguous Untied States. MWO-Kansas City introduced a new concept, known as GAIRMET in 2008, as a supplementary product to the AIRMET.

G-AIRMET are graphical forecasts of en-route weather hazards valid at discrete times no more than 3 hours apart for a period of up to 12 hours into the future (00, 03, 06, 09 and 12 hours). 00 hour represents the initial conditions, and the subsequent 3-hourly graphics depict the area affected by the particular hazard at that valid time.

G-AIRMET Availability and Format: G-AIRMET can be viewed using the G-AIRMET display tools at: . G-AIRMET are also provided in ICAO recommended “Binary Universal Form for the Representation of Meteorological Data” (BUFR) format. This is suitable for the integration into service provider and user systems. This format allows service providers or end users to customize G-AIRMET displays to their specific applications and unique systems.

[pic]

Figure 1. Example of G-AIRMET. A weather hazard is moving and expanding from southwestern North Carolina and increasing in size. The graphic representation of the text AIRMET at the top is forced to encompass this entire region for the full AIRMET forecast period. The G-AIRMET at the bottom is able to depict the precise position, size, and shape of the area at three distinct times within the same forecast period.

The benefits of G-AIRMET are:

a) increased situational awareness for pilots regarding the location of weather phenomena that meet AIRMET criteria. G-AIRMET provides the pilot with observed and multiple forecast positions of the weather hazard. (See Figure 1.);

b) clear depiction of the weather hazard. Since G-AIRMET is in digital form, it can be presented on numerous platforms, and is not constrained by limited coordinate points or by complex FIR boundaries;

c) if users still require a text bulletin, a text AIRMET is produced that encompasses the G-AIRMET’s total area described in the observed and forecast positions through 6 hours; and

d) MWO-Kansas City’s area of responsibility includes 27 FIRs, and G-AIRMET provides the aviation meteorologist with the means to forecast the actual hazard’s aerial coverage, and not be confined by individual FIR boundaries. Weather hazards that transition from FIR to FIR are kept consistent, thus providing the pilot with a complete understanding of the weather hazard.

It is anticipated that the development of this capability can be used by other MWO to further advance the capability to provide an in-flight advisory in graphical picture with improved resolution of the hazard that can be depicted in time and space. By moving through the frames (or snap shots) of the G-AIRMET, the user can easily see the growth and decay of the hazardous weather in time.

3. ACTION BY THE METWSG

The group is invited to note the information in this paper.

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