Aviation Weather Office

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Aviation Weather Office

• FAA and In Situ Observations

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FAA and In Situ Observations

• In Situ Utilization Today
• Operations
• ITWS
• Research
• AWRP
• Next Gen Implications
• Overview
• Major Programs With In Situ Implications
• NNEW
• RWI
• WTIC
• Questions?

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FAA In Situ Utilization TodayOperations

• Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS)
• Fully automated, integrated terminal weather
  information system.
• Provides current conditions / forecasts (up to 60
  min) of terminal weather
• Accurate, easy-to-understand, and immediately
  useable graphical weather information on a
  single, full color display
• Uses sophisticated algorithms to integrate data
  from FAA and NWS sensors, radars, weather models,
  and from aircraft in flight

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ITWS
Pilots
NEXRAD
TDWR
ASR
1-hr Forecast Microburst Prediction Gust Front
Prediction Storm Location Motion Storm Cell
Information Terminal Winds Tornado
ITWS
ITWS Real-Time Processor
Controllers
AWOS/ASOS
RUC

• Supervisors
• TRACON
• ARTCC TMU
• CWSU

• Airlines
• Dispatch
• Ramp Tower

LLWAS
Aircraft (MDCRS)
Lightning
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FAA In Situ Utilization TodayOperations

• Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS)
• Users
• Air Traffic personnel in the Air Traffic Control
  Tower (ATCT) and Terminal Radar Control (TRACON)
  facility
• Traffic Management and Center Weather Service
  Unit personnel in the Air Route Traffic Control
  Center (ARTCC)
• Air Traffic Control Systems Command Center
  (ATCSCC), airport authorities, airline dispatch
  offices and other Users (i.e. airlines)
• Authorized FAA non-FAA users have internet
  access to ITWS products
• ITWS products will be made compatible with
  NextGen requirements

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FAA In Situ Utilization TodayResearch

• Aviation Weather Research Program (AWRP)
• Plans and conducts research, development of new
  weather capabilities and technologies to meet
  current and future aviation needs.
• Turbulence Research Team improving detection of
  en route turbulence
• Developed Eddy Dissipation Rate (EDR) algorithms
• Accelerometer-based algorithm in UAL a/c
  improved winds-based algorithm on DAL a/c, in
  process of implementing on SWA a/c
• EDR data displayed on Aviation Digital Data
  Service (ADDS)
• FY09/10 Yearlong demonstration with DAL to
  investigate the benefits of EDR to NAS
  capacity/safety and airline operations
• QCd EDR data displayed on Earth Systems
  Research Laboratory (ESRL) Global Systems
  Division (GSD) AMDAR display
• EDR integrated into the Graphical Turbulence
  Guidance (GTG-2) product, soon to be operational

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Graphical Turbulence Guidance (GTG)

• Based on RUC NWP model
• GTG1
• Upper-level CAT (gtFL200)
• Operational on ADDS since 3/2003
• http//adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov
• GTG2
• Clear-air sources 10,000 ft MSL-FL450
• On Experimental ADDS since 11/2004
• Will replace GTG1 on operational ADDS in 2009
• Uses a combination of turbulence diagnostics,
  merged and weighted according to current
  performance (pireps, EDR)
• Current work areas
• Probabilistic forecasts of moderate-or-greater
  (MOG) and severe-or-greater (SOG) turbulence
• Optimal use of insitu reports
• Assimilation of turbulence-related observations

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GTG Weighted ensemble of turbulence diagnostics
0 h forecast valid at 22 Sep 2006 15Z
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Graphical Turbulence Guidance (GTG)
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Graphical Turbulence Guidance (GTG)

• Based on RUC, GFS, or WRF NWP forecasts
• Current work areas include
• Optimal use of in situ reports
• Probability of Moderate Or Greater, Severe Or
  Greater gt some EDR threshold
• Global applications (global GFS, regional WRF)
• Incorporate satellite-based feature detectors
• Output expected to populate the SAS of the
  NextGen 4D Weather Data Cube

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Next Generation Air Transportation System
(NextGen)
Ground-based Navigation and Surveillance Air
Traffic Control Communications By
Voice Disconnected Information Systems Air
Traffic Control Fragmented Weather
Forecasting Airport Operations Limited By
Visibility Conditions Forensic Safety Systems
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NextGen Aviation Weather

• Today
• Not integrated into aviation decision-support
  systems (DSS)
• Inconsistent/conflicting weather information
• Low temporal resolution (for aviation decision
  making purposes)
• Updated by schedule
• Fixed graphic or text product formats
• Inconsistent access
• Disjointed point-to-point communications
• Human intensive processing

• NextGen
• Totally integrated in DSS
• Nationally consistent weather information
• High temporal resolution
• Updated by events/situation
• Interactive data formats
• Universal common access
• Net-enabled information connection
• Increased machine to machine communications

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NextGen Network Enabled Weather (NNEW)

• The 4-D Weather Cube will provide common,
  universal access to aviation weather data.
• Improved weather data (observations forecasts)
  available from the 4-D Weather Data Cube will
  improve traffic management capability and reduce
  delays.
• Provide Single Authoritative Source (SAS) of
  weather information for all users.
• Provide access to weather information indexed by
  aircraft and weather type.
• Reduce the need for human interpretation of data
  by direct machine-to-machine access integration
  in decision support tools.

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NextGen and the 4-D Weather Cube
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Reduce Weather Impact (RWI)

• A portfolio of NextGen capability improvements to
  mitigate the effects of weather in future NAS
  operations.
• Provide consistent weather information that will
  support more effective and timely decision making
  through the use of automated decision support
  tools.

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Reduce Weather Impact

• Two major elements
• Weather Forecast Improvements
• Integrate weather information tailored for
  Decision Support Tools (DSTs) and systems into
  NextGen operations
• Implement improved forecasts by transitioning
  advanced capabilities from aviation weather
  research
• Develop metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of
  weather improvements in the NAS
• Develop probabilistic forecasts which can be used
  for traffic flow management
• Determine the most effective solution for a
  processor architecture to support these
  capabilities
• Propose recommendations for transitioning FAA
  legacy weather systems into NextGen.

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Reduce Weather Impact

• Two major elements
• Weather Observation Improvements
• Optimize the weather sensor network to eliminate
  redundancy and inconsistencies among sensor
  types, configurations, and ground infrastructure
  reducing cost and improving performance
• Determine the right sensor mix among
  ground-based, satellite, and airborne atmospheric
  sensor networks
• Improve the resolution of the weather sensor
  network
• Effort being worked jointly with government,
  industry, and academic agencies

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Weather Technology in the Cockpit (WTIC)

• A portfolio of related research and development
  (RD) activities to ensure the adoption of
  cockpit, ground, and communication technologies,
  practices, and procedures that will
• Provide pilots with shared and consistent weather
  information to enhance common situational
  awareness
• Provide airborne tools to exploit the common
  weather picture
• Utilize the aircraft as a node functions to
  autonomously exchange weather information with
  surrounding aircraft and ground systems
• Facilitate integration of weather information
  into cockpit NextGen capabilities (e.g.
  Trajectory Based Operations)

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Weather Technology in the Cockpit (WTIC)
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QUESTIONS?
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Back-up Slides
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Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS)

• Background
• CIWS is an automated weather processing system
  that ingests weather sensor and model data to
  generate a suite of convective weather forecast
  (0 2 Hr) products for the northeast corridor.
• CIWS does not incorporate airborne sensor data
• Integration of CIWS products with Traffic Flow
  Management Decision Support Tools
• CIWS functionality will be component in NextGen
  Weather Processor
• CIWS products are currently disseminated to 15
  FAA facilities (ATCSCC, ARTCCs, TRACONs),
  airlines operations centers, and several RD
  organizations.
• CIWS was developed, operated and maintained by
  MIT Lincoln Laboratory

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Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS)
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Corridor Integrated Weather System
(CIWS)Graphical Coverage
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Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS)Display
Color Bars
System Menus

• Product Status Button colors
• White the product is not displayed
• Green the product is displayed
• Yellow the product is displayed but filtered
• Red the product is unavailable
• Left-click to toggle right-click for menus

Loop Controls
Additional Products
Base Products
View Menu
Base Product Forecast
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ITWS-How does it fit into the NAS?

• ITWS is integrated into the FAAs Strategic
  Management Plan
• ITWS helps fill the performance gap identified in
  the FAAs Greater Capacity goal
• Objective 1 Increase airport capacity to meet
  projected demand
• Strategy 1 Improve technologies to make air
  traffic flow more efficiently during periods of
  adverse weather
• ITWS provides significant economic benefits in
  airline operations efficiencies and passenger
  time savings
• Estimated benefits to cost ratios as high as
  19.81

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Graphical Turbulence Guidance (GTG)

• Based on RUC, GFS, or WRF NWP forecasts
• Current work areas include
• Optimal use of in situ reports
• Probability of Moderate Or Greater, Severe Or
  Greater gt some EDR threshold
• Global applications (global GFS, regional WRF)
• Incorporate satellite-based feature detectors
• Output expected to populate the SAS of the
  NextGen 4D Weather Data Cube
• Dr. Bob Sharman
• sharman_at_ucar.edu
• 303-497-8457