Test Newsletter ABOP
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WMO AMDAR Observing System Newsletter |
Welcome from the JET-ABO LeadershipDear Colleagues, Vice-Chairs Stewart Taylor and Nicolas Rivaben, and I, welcome you to the autumn edition of the AMDAR Newsletter. Firstly, we hope during this challenging time of COVID-19 you are safe and well. All sectors of the broader AMDAR community in the public and private sectors continues face significant challenges in maintaining our operations, but we have all seen during the last 9 months our community rise to the occasion and maintain our critical services to the maximum extent that conditions permit in providing our valuable data to the enterprise in support of weather and aviation operations and safety. You are all to be commended for your diligence and perseverance in our ongoing collaborative efforts. Thanks to many new and online collaborative tools, our efforts have continued apace despite being limited in our ability to travel and meet in person. The WMO Joint Expert Team on Aircraft Based Observing Systems (JET-ABO) has recently been appointed under the newly reorganized governance and constituent bodies of WMO. We all look forward to continuing to work with the broader AMDAR community to sustain and grow the Global AMDAR Programme. The JET-ABO will convene its first formal session in December to continue our ongoing efforts to support Regional and national programs and pursue the implementation of the WMO-IATA Collaborative AMDAR Programme (WICAP), bringing a streamlined consistent approach to resource allocation and data sharing among the partners in the Global Programme, and to continue many other ongoing activities within our Terms of Reference and Work Plan. During the next few months, the JET-ABO will also participate in several WMO-organized conferences and meetings of various constituent bodies, to ensure our efforts are represented within and coordinated across WMO members and our partners. Included in this edition of the Newsletter are short articles on a variety of topics, including more information on the activities of the JET-ABO, WICAP, updates on turbulence and water vapor measurements, and summaries of activities within each WMO Region. As always, we welcome your feedback and questions on these articles, on inquiries on any other matters. We thank the authors for their contributions to this volume of the Newsletter and the Secretariat for their editorial and publication support. Please enjoy the contents of this newsletter and reach out to us at the contact information provide if you have any questions on its contents or any other matters you may wish to discuss.
Status of Aircraft-Based Observations & COVID-19 Impact - All aircraft and all systems (black);
- From the AMDAR Programme with reports submitted in binary format (BUFR, red);
- From the AMDAR Programme with reports submitted in text format (FM42, green); and,
- From ICAO data sources (AIREP and ADS, purple).
The observations from the WMO AMDAR observing system are the output from 12 operational AMDAR national and regional programmes in cooperation with some 43 national and international participating airlines, as listed on the WMO website.
ABO Data Volumes, Coverage and Impact of COVID-19The graph shows that recently towards the end of 2019 and start of 2020, aircraft-based observations data volumes had increased to a historical maximum of more than 850K observations per day on the GTS, with AMDAR observations making up the majority of these at around 750K observations per day.
From March 2020 as a direct result of the impact of the COVID-19 impact on the aviation industry and airlines the volume of aircraft-based observations overall fell to around 245K observations per day and to 230K for AMDAR - around 30% of December data volumes for both.
  While the coverage as depicted at right, showing the 24 hour period at 31 October 2020, has improved somewhat to that shown in the last newsletter for May 2020, most of the data volume increase is over the higher-density areas of the USA, Europe and Eastern Asia.
Impact of ABO Data Loss on Weather Computer Models
While the full impact of the loss of up to around 75% to 90% of ABO data at times and varying from location to location has not been fully analysed and reported, there have already been studies that have begun this process. A recently available paper by Eric P. James; Stanley G. Benjamin; Brian D. Jamison, Commercial-Aircraft-Based Observations for NWP: Global Coverage, Data Impacts, and COVID-19 provides the results of a study into the impact of ABO data loss on the high resolution, Rapid Refresh, numerical weather prediction system of the USA, NOAA. The study reports that, flight reductions related to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a 75% reduction in aircraft observations globally as of late April 2020. The paper summarises the outcomes and recommendations of the study in which: A set of data denial experiments with the latest version of the Rapid Refresh NWP system for recent winter and summer periods quantifies the statistically significant positive forecast impacts of assimilating aircraft observations. In order to simulate the impacts of a large data loss similar to that being experienced in relation to the COVID-19 crisis, a special additional experiment excluding approximately 80% of aircraft observations reveals a reduction in forecast skill for both summer and winter amounting to 30%–60% of the degradation seen when all aircraft observations are excluded.
James et al note that: There is consensus among NWP centers around the world that ABO are one of several most important, if not the single most important, source of weather observations for short-range NWP. and that: If the relationship between observation coverage and forecast impacts were linear, we would expect the reduced-ABO experiment to exhibit 80% of the degradation seen in the no-ABO experiment. However, ABO impacts normalized to maximum possible forecast error reduction ranged from 5% to 55% for 6-h forecasts, and larger over CONUS. An 80% (not full) reduction in ABO volume, mimicking the 2020 reduction in ABO volume due to COVID-19, was shown to produce a somewhat smaller but still statistically significant increase in forecast error in these controlled experiments.
The paper concludes that: There are significant opportunities for expansion of ABO coverage in the coming decade, taking advantage of new aircraft surveillance technologies. Mode-S has already been used effectively within European short-range NWP systems (e.g., by the Met Office; Gustafsson et al. 2018), with a documented positive impact across seasons upon 1–3-h forecasts (Strajnar et al. 2015; Lange and Janjić 2016). Assimilation of these data within the United States is a major opportunity for advancing NWP forecast skill for short-range forecasting. In addition, ADS-B and ADS-C observations are becoming available over much of the globe now, and investigation is ongoing into the measurement of meteorological variables by unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs; e.g., Shimura et al. 2018). A high priority should be placed upon examining the quality and testing the impact of assimilating these new types of ABO within rapidly updating NWP systems such as the RAP and HRRR.
Wider Impact
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, which is still ongoing and will be expected to have repercussions globally for many months to come, WMO and its member countries have measured and assessed some of the impacts on meteorological operations and services and have worked to try to alleviate some of the consequences of resulting data reductions and losses. Some of these have been publicised within various media releases, including in an ongoing release entitled: COVID-19 impacts observing system.
WMO is especially grateful to FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd, which has made available to worldwide meteorological organizations a temporary, free license to utilize Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Reporting (TAMDAR) weather data sets to help offset the recent decrease in accessible aircraft-based data.
More information on the regional and national impacts of the crisis that is severely impacting the aviation industry and, as a result, the ABO programme is available in the article on WMO regional programs.
Thanks to Program PartnersWMO and its Members are grateful to our aviation industry and airline partners for their continued contribution to the WMO Aircraft-based Observing System and the AMDAR Programme. The data that are produced from this collaboration are utilized within many meteorological applications and forecasts, benefiting aviation operations and safety, other application areas and the wider general public.
______________________
For more information on aircraft-based observations data statistics visit the WMO Community Platform.
Formation of the Joint Expert Team on Aircraft-based Observing SystemsUnder the reform and reorganisation of WMO a new constituent body structure has been implemented following the 18th WMO Congress in 2019.
The JET-ABO and Coordination of the Aircraft-Based Observations ProgrammeActivities relating to aircraft-based observations (ABO) have been established under the INFCOM, which has responsibility for the development and implementation of globally coordinated systems for acquiring, processing, transmitting and disseminating Earth system observations, and related standards; coordination of the production and use of standardized analysis and model forecast fields; and development and implementation of sound data and information management practices for all WMO Programmes and their associated application and services areas.
Within the INFCOM, a Joint Expert Team on Aircraft-Based Observing Systems (JET-ABO) has been established as a working group of the Standing Committee on Earth Observing Systems and Monitoring Networks (SC-ON) and under the joint management of the Standing Committee on Measurements, Instrumentation and Traceability (SC-MINT).
The Terms of Reference and the assigned membership of the JET-ABO are available from the WMO online Contacts Database, which is a developing resource for WMO Members and the WMO Expert Network, in addition to the WMO Community Platform, both of which are aimed at better coordinating and documenting WMO activities and the work being undertaken in WMO Activity Areas.
The activities of the JET-ABO will be documented on the WMO Community Platform under the Aircraft-Based Observations Programme Activity Area. The team will relatively seamlessly continue the work of the ABOP in the development of the AMDAR observing system, particularly focusing on coordination of the developing WMO-IATA Collaborative AMDAR Programme (WICAP).
The leadership group of the JET-ABO are:
The activities of the JET-ABO will be coordinated within the Secretariat by Mr Dean Lockett and Ms Minna Huuskonen.
The first meeting of the JET-ABO will be a virtual meeting and is expected to take place over 8-10 December 2020.
WMO thanks all those experts and colleagues that have contributed to the work and international activities of the ABOP under the former Commission for Basic Systems and most recently under the Inter-Programme Expert Team on Aircraft-Based Observations.
Development of the WMO-IATA Collaborative AMDAR ProgrammeReaders will be aware that WMO and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have agreed to work together on the future development and expansion of the AMDAR observing system under a programme known as the WMO-IATA Collaborative AMDAR Programme (WICAP). This article follows on from the previous update on WICAP which was in Volume 19 of the newsletter.
Formal Establishment of the IATA and WMO Working Arrangement on WICAP
 A joint press release was made following the ceremony under the title, WMO and IATA agree to improve aircraft meteorological reporting, from which the following is excerpted:
“One of the many unfortunate aspects of the COVID-19 crisis has been the severe loss – of up to 90% - of aircraft-derived meteorological data as a result of the steep decline in airline operations and passenger flights since March 2020,” said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas.
“Meteorological services and other data providers have tried to offset this loss, but there has been a measurable negative impact on the accuracy of weather forecasts as a result of AMDAR data reductions,” said Professor Taalas.WMO-IATA-AMDAR
“Safety is aviation’s highest priority and ensuring airlines and other safety stakeholders have access to the most comprehensive and reliable weather forecast data is vital to achieving this,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
“It is important that in rebuilding and re-establishing their operations, airlines are able to take advantage of all available cost and operational efficiencies. One such efficiency can be derived from the enhanced use of better-quality weather forecasts and other meteorological information that results from the improved availability of AMDAR data,” said Mr de Juniac.
The formalisation of the agreement is a significant milestone for the AMDAR observing system and provides a framework for WMO and IATA to work together with the primary aim to extend the coverage over currently data-sparse areas This would be expected to involve the recruitment of many new partner airlines and extend the benefits of the programme for both the meteorological and aviation communities.
The next key step in the development of WICAP will be the establishment of the Data Policy for the programme which will ensure that WMO members can continue to use the AMDAR data for their day-to-day meteorological operations, while also protecting the interests of the participating airlines as the owners of the original data.
Aircraft-based Turbulence Observations Status within AMDARThere are two atmospheric turbulence intensity metrics currently in use by the AMDAR community. The first metric is eddy dissipation rate (EDR). MacCready (1964) first suggested the use of EDR as a measure of turbulence intensity. It is particularly useful operationally since EDR along the vertical direction is proportional to the RMS (root-mean-square) vertical acceleration experienced by an aircraft for specific flight conditions (MacCready 1964; Cornman et al. 1995). Further, EDR has been adopted as the standard metric for atmospheric turbulence reporting by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (2001).[1]
 Figure 1: Counts of all available routine EDR reports per day for the previous 9 months,
as of Oct. 20, 2020, broken out by reporting airline.
 Figure 2: Counts of all available EDR reports for September 2019 (pre-COVID-19) using an approximately 50x50 km grid. The color scale is logarithmic.
 Figure 3: Counts of all available EDR reports for April 2020 (during the COVID-19 decline) using an approximately 50x50 km grid. The color scale is logarithmic.
 Figure 4: Counts of all available EDR reports for September 2020 (during the COVID-19 decline) using an approximately 50x50 km grid. The color scale is logarithmic.
The second metric, derived equivalent vertical gust (DEVG), is defined as the instantaneous vertical gust velocity which, superimposed on a steady horizontal wind, would produce the measured acceleration of the aircraft. The effect of a gust on an aircraft depends on its mass and other characteristics, but these factors are accounted for so that a gust velocity can be calculated which is independent of the aircraft.[3] Before the impacts of COVID-19 were truly felt by the aviation industry, more than 360 aircraft were reporting DEVG worldwide averaging about 20,000 reports daily. Starting in early March, DEVG reporting also dropped significantly, down to about 15% of pre-COVID-19 levels. These numbers are based on an analysis of AMDAR data from The U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction’s (NCEP) Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS). A large fraction of the DEVG data appears under a few tail numbers, which is unrealistic, and thus the estimated number of aircraft reporting DEVG is substantially underestimated. Currently, there are at least 150 aircraft reporting about 17,000 measurements per day (about 85% of pre-COVID-19 levels).
Figures 5, 6 and 7 show the locations of all DEVG reports for September 2019, April 2020 and September 2020, respectively. There is software-based logic implemented on many aircraft that limit reporting of DEVG in some regions at certain altitudes (e.g., Europe). DEVG reporting has grown over North America but has dropped precipitously over the southern hemisphere.
 Figure 5: Counts of all available DEVG reports for September 2019 using an approximately 50x50 km grid.
 Figure 6: Counts of all available DEVG reports for April 2020 using an approximately 50x50 km grid.
 Figure 7: Counts of all available DEVG reports for September 2020 using an approximately 50x50 km grid.
These maps illustrate the need for expansion of aircraft-based turbulence observations in many areas of the globe. WMO continues to work with its Members and their respective national airlines to increase aircraft-based turbulence observation coverage.
WMO and its Members express gratitude to our aviation industry and airline partners for their continued contribution to the WMO Aircraft-based Observing System and the AMDAR Program. The data produced from this collaboration are utilized within many meteorological applications and forecasts benefiting aviation operations and safety, other application areas and the wider general public.
For more information on aircraft-based observations data statistics visit the WMO website.
meymaris
 ucar [dot] edu (Gregory Meymaris), National Center for Atmospheric Research________________________________
[1] From EDR IP
[2] Not all of the EDR data collected globally are yet available in this dataset.
ABOP Water Vapor ProgrammeGlobal Water Vapor Measurement SummaryWater Vapor Measurements (WVM) within the Aircraft Based Observations Programme (ABOP) continues with the sustained operation of programmes by participating Members implementing the Water Vapor Sensing System (WVSS-II). The current worldwide network of ABOP aircraft reporting WVM with WVSS-II remains at 148 aircraft, which is unchanged since our last report in October 2019. These in-situ upper air observations continue to be extremely valuable in all forecast operations, especially numerical weather prediction, and provide a significant contribution to the Global Observing System. RA IV remains the leading network implementation of WVSS-II through the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) / National Weather Service (NWS) Public Private Engagement program with Collins Aerospace. The RA VI WVSS-II network from EUMETNET ABO (E-ABO), in cooperation with Lufthansa Group, remains at nine WVSS-II equipped aircraft in operation. Details on each regional implementation programme are found below. The table below shows the number of WVSS-II reporting aircraft across all WMO Regions.
 The Boeing 737-700 configuration is the most widely implemented aircraft types for WVSS-II, with 108 aircraft equipped for WVM reporting. The table below shows the number of WVM reporting aircraft by type for the participating airlines.
  While the global WVSS-II network has been affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. WVSS-II network has been able to minimize the overall impacts. The following two figures, courtesy of NOAA/ESRL/GSD, show the current global coverage of WVM data from WVSS-II equipped aircraft over a typical 24-hour period from September of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. As shown, the U.S. WVM network has been able to operate at approximately 60% of the data volume, compared to a year earlier.
24 hours of Global WVM data from Sep 2019 (Graphic courtesy of NOAA/ESRL/GSD)
 The NOAA/NWS and E-ABO networks provide WVM observations predominantly from their respective regions, RA IV and RA VI. However, all participating airlines routinely travel outside the confines of their home region enhancing the WVM data available in those data space areas.
24 hours of Global WVM data from Sep 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic
(Graphic courtesy of NOAA/ESRL/GSD)
bryce [dot] ford1
endress [dot] com (The WMO JET-ABO WVM Team)RA IV Water Vapor MeasurementU.S. NWS WVSS-II Program Continues Support for ABOP WVM
Currently 139 WVSS-II-equipped aircraft are operating in the U.S. ABOP network. The present airline partners service many countries in RA IV on a routine basis as well as frequent stops in other regions. Thus, the U.S. WVSS-II network helps support forecasting operations for all countries throughout the region resulting in improved forecast services and increased aviation safety for everyone.
The network of WVSS-II equipped B757 and B737 aircraft in the U.S. has been able to minimize the impacts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This has been made possible through active collaboration between Collins Aerospace, the U.S. WVSS-II data service provider and the participating airline partners in the network. This collaboration has enabled WVSS-II equipped aircraft to be given scheduling priority over non-equipped aircraft, allowing them to remain in service whenever operationally possible. This has resulted in significantly higher availability than ABO data from non-WVSS-II equipped aircraft thereby minimizing the overall impact to operations.
 24 hours of WVSS-II data from the U.S. Network in Sep 2019. (Graphic courtesy of NOAA/ESRL/GSD)
 24 hours of WVSS-II data from the U.S. Network in Sep 2020, during COVID-19 (Graphic courtesy of NOAA/ESRL/GSD)
Jeannine [dot] hendricks
collins [dot] com (U.S. WVSS-II Team)RA VI Water Vapor MeasurementE-ABO Reporting of WVM with WVSS-II
Currently there are nine WVSS-II-equipped aircraft operating in the E-ABO network. E-ABO and airline partner Lufthansa Group continue to operate the initial network of these equipped A321 aircraft within the E-ABO network. Lufthansa’s main hub at Frankfurt creates a frequently sampled set of high-quality humidity profiles daily. Lufthansa routes service the majority of countries in RA VI on a routine basis as well as making frequent stops in many locations in nearby regions.
While COVID-19 has impacted the number of available AMDAR observations in Europe, it unfortunately has devastated the European water vapour measurement programme which can be seen in the figures below, courtesy of EUMETNET ABO, showing the RA VI coverage of ABO data with WVSS-II over a one-week period, 30th September - 6th October, in 2019 (left) and in 2020 (right).
  The accompanying graph to the right shows the impact of COVID-19 on monthly WVM totals over the period when Lufthansa grounded all their Airbus A321s during March 2020 and only re-introduced a few aircraft during July/August. We currently are down to only one WVSS-II unit flying on an occasional basis.
The Met Office, UK had intended to fund an additional 45 WVSS-II installations on UK-based aircraft starting in 2021, but with airlines suspending all developments for the time being, implementation plans have been postponed until 2022 to allow airlines to recover from COVID-19.
steve [dot] stringer
metoffice [dot] gov [dot] uk (Steve Stringer, Chair RA VI TT-ABO)Additional Data from FLYHT during COVID-19 PandemicAs we are all aware, COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on the amount of data available on a global scale from aircraft equipped to provide weather information.
 Figure 1: Airline data volumes during March 2020 show a gradual data decrease (courtesy of DWD, E-AMDAR Portal). Box 1 shows the E-AMDAR optimiser utilising one airline (EZY) to cover the loss of another. Box 2 shows the reconfiguration of an airline to provide reporting over central Europe. Both of these reconfigurations within the network could not be sustained due to all airlines further reducing operations.
With the reduction in AMDAR data, the E-ABO team, on behalf of EUMETNET and WMO ABO Programme, reached out to FLYHT[1] asking about the possibility of sharing their TAMDAR and AFIRS data to the global meteorology community. This request was received favourably and over the weekend of 21/22nd March agreement was reached to provide the data free of charge during the “COVID-19 emergency period” in the U.S. A press release[2] was issued on the 30th March.
Following a week or so of email exchanges between all parties (FLYHT, Synoptic Data [data management], data traffic/database teams within the UK Met Office, WMO ABO and E-ABO), all managed to agree on
Data users were informed of this progress through WMO channels and email information from the E-ABO Team. The TAMDAR data “went live” 7th April. Although there were some initial issues at a few NMHSs, the data feed was successful and within a short period several data users were processing and assimilating the data observations.
The AFIRS data followed shortly after and, like TAMDAR, were assimilated by some users. During the summer months we saw an increase of around 30 AFIRS-equipped aircraft as airlines were added to the FLYHT data feed.
 Currently, we have the potential for over 400 aircraft to provide data, but this is dependent on airline operations and COVID restrictions. As can be seen from Figure 2, AFIRS and TAMDAR data are supplementing “traditional AMDAR” and ADS-C data provision.
Figure 2: Aircraft based observation (ABO) coverage 28th October 2020 (courtesy of Met Office, Data Assimilation). AMDAR data red, ADS-C data black, AFIRS data green and TAMDAR data blue.
Data are being received in the following WMO Regional Association locations;
 Since April, we have seen a doubling of AFIRS data from around 6000 observations to an average of 12000 daily. Although TAMDAR volumes also increased, Figure 3 reveals a more variable provision of data.
Figure 3: Daily data volumes for AFIRS and TAMDAR (courtesy of Met Office, Data Assimilation). During August data volumes for AFIRS and TAMDAR were averaging around 12000 and 14000 observations respectively.
The current data will continue to be available through September 2021 by way of the U.S. contract even if the COVID state of emergency ends before then. We all continue to benefit from and greatly appreciate the data being provided by FLYHT.
stewart [dot] taylor
metoffice [dot] gov [dot] uk (Stewart Taylor), E-ABO Technical Co-ordinator________________________________
News on National and Regional AMDAR Programme DevelopmentsReports have been received for WMO Regions III, IV and VI.
Region III (South America)As in all countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the South American aviation industry. Flights have been reduced to nearly zero due to airspace and borders closures. Only special repatriation flights have been allowed. Between January and July of this year, the resulting ABO data loss is nearly 83% for Brazil and 99% for Argentina. A steady increase in flights and reported ABO is expected in 2021.
Between April and June 2020, the Task Team on Aircraft based Observation for Region III (TT-ABO III) held three WMO-IATA Collaboration on AMDAR Program (WICAP) teleconference meetings with national representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Local and international IATA and WMO representatives discussed with members several topics including WICAP and presented an overview of IATA/WMO plans for aircraft-based observations. Regional matters such as ABO-Regional Implementation Program (A-RIP) needs and WICAP implementation for RA-III also were discussed. The next meeting is scheduled for October at which task team members will plan the next steps for regional WICAP implementation.
 AR-AMDAR has reported a very pronounced decrease in AMDAR data provision (fig 1.). Since 20 March 2020, the Argentinian government implemented a total country lockdown and airspace closure. Unfortunately, this development forced the LATAM Argentina branch into bankruptcy and ended the regular AMDAR data provision in the country.
I am pleased to report that Aerolíneas Argentinas is investigating AMDAR Onboard Software (AOS) optimization on its Flight Management System (FMS) for its B737 and E-190/195 airframes.
Figure 1. Evolution of daily AR-AMDAR messages per aircraft. Red dotted line indicates when
total-quarantine of country and total airspace closure began. Red dashed line indicates cessation
of LATAM Argentina flights. Source: SMN Argentina
 The Brazilian ABO program also has not escaped the effects of the pandemic (fig. 2). ADS-C data provision was severely affected. Since April 2020, ADS-C reports have remained below pre-pandemic levels. Conversely, AMDAR data have shown a slight increase since May due to local flexibility in the Brazilian airspace.
Since July, Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET) and Departamento de Controle do Espaço Aéreo (DECEA) have been working to have BR-ABO BUFR messages disseminated over GTS. Tests between Brazil and Argentina have been conducted and it is expected that formal broadcasting will begin by the end of the year.
Due to pandemic-forced borders and airspace closings since March, the LATAM program has been seriously affected with nearly no flights occurring between April and May (fig 3). Although a slight increase in flights has been observed since June, ABO data reduction remains between 80% and 90% (fig 4).
 Figure 3. LATAM program. Black bars represent AMDAR monthly data. Source: Dirección Meteorológica de Chile (DMC)
 Figure 4. An example of LATAM program coverage on
1 July 2020.
The U.S. will continue procurement and provision of the LATAM feed through March 2021. It is expected that a new contract will be awarded by March with options to continue the data procurement and provision subject to continued availability of funds.
nrivaben
smn [dot] gov [dot] ar (Nicolás Rivaben), Member IPET-ABO/ AR-AMDAR CoordinatorRegion IV (North America, Central America and the Caribbean)Recent Programmatic Developments
The RA-IV Program, consisting of USA and USA-based airlines and Flyht’s TAMDAR, Mexico and AeroMexico, and Canada AFIRS-AMDAR from Flyht, will soon engage WMO RA-IV to plan for collaboration under the WMO WICAP framework. The USA will soon seek to renew contract arrangements with data service providers for continued procurement of AMDAR from USA-based airlines, as well as support for continued procurement of data from AeroMexico and LATAM, the latter in collaboration with RA-III. The USA has secured contracting arrangements for provision to all WMO Members through September 2021.
COVID-19
  As of October, aircraft and profiles have returned to around 45% of normal (see figure at left).
Of the 3000 aircraft in the USA AMDAR program, 139 are WVSS equipped. All of these are either Southwest Airlines or UPS. Because Southwest is the largest contributor to the USA program and continues an appreciable number of daily flights of its B737 fleet, and because UPS is a cargo carrier and flights are not appreciably diminished, the USA continues to receive an appreciable number of WVSS profiles on a daily basis across the CONUS, compared to pre-COVID volumes.
Curtis Marshall, USA AMDAR Program Lead
All graphics courtesy of Christopher Hill, NCEP/EMC
Region VI (Europe)The RA VI TT-ABO held its first meeting in October 2018. The TT covers all aspects of ABO, including AMDAR, ADS-C/AIREPs, Mode-S and others, but the initial focus of the team was to concentrate its efforts on the implementation of WICAP.
Originally it was envisaged that WICAP-RA VI would begin operating on 1st January 2020, but delays to work and implementation have been encountered during WMO re-structuring. Formal approval of the working arrangements is now in place and awaits the imminent joint WMO-IATA signing ceremony. The recent WMO Executive Council, EC-72, gave its provisional approval for the establishment of the WICAP Governing Board and most importantly, the WICAP Data Policy which will now allow WICAP to move forward and initiate discussions with airlines and data service providers for the provision of more and potentially cheaper AMDAR data both globally and within RA VI. Even so, the earliest we can now expect to start WICAP operations in RA VI is Q3 2021.
The WICAP-VI implementation plan, submitted to RA VI Management Group (MG) in April 2019, explains that RA VI activities are coordinated by two centres: RA VI-West, managed by EUMETNET under its E-ABO Programme and RA VI-East, hopefully managed by Roshydromet on behalf of some non-EUMETNET Eastern European National Meteorology and Hydrology Services (NMHS). EUMETNET will have responsibility for data processing and distribution of all RA VI WICAP AMDAR data based on the existing E-AMDAR DAta Processing System (E-ADAS).
Progress in RA VI-West with attracting airlines to participate in AMDAR was going well with both Turkish Airlines and SATA Azores expected to start generating AMDAR data in Q1 2020. However, since February 2020, all airlines, including LOT who also was looking to work with us, have had COVID-19 issues with which to deal so all contact with and activity by these airlines currently has ceased. Full engagement on AMDAR development with airlines is not expected to resume for another six to nine months at least.
Headway on WICAP RA VI-East is slower awaiting full engagement by Roshydromet, who previously has stated that it first needs to develop a national Mode-S capability and establish a national AMDAR programme before widening the sub-programme to cover the RA VI-East region. This has been reaffirmed at a recent third meeting of the TT-ABO and although timescales for RA VI-East are still uncertain, we hope they can be firmed up over the coming months.
In parallel with the WICAP efforts, the TT has considered plans for other aspects of ABO recently producing its first substantive draft of a RA VI ABO-Regional Implementation Plan (A-RIP). It is intended to submit the RA VI A-RIP to the Spring 2021 RA VI Session meeting for approval. Central to the short-term development plans is developing an operational Mode-S capability throughout RA VI. The TT believes that Mode-S derived observation data will become the major element of ABO in RA VI with most member NMHSs currently involved in developing these national capabilities. The plan will see all RA VI Mode-S data being provided to the European Meteorological Aircraft Derived Data Centre (EMADDC) for processing, quality control and a consolidated data product distribution.
While Mode-S data are expected to become the largest, both in amount and coverage, provider of ABO data, AMDAR data will continue to play a significant and expanded role in RA VI. New airlines have been identified for participation including the use of smaller regional aircraft to help coverage in the more remote regions where airports tend to be smaller and no Secondary Surveillance Radars (SSR) are available to generate Mode-S data.
 The impacts of COVID-19 on the aviation industry have been severe and the drastic reduction in European flights has had a correspondingly large impact on the availability of aircraft-based observations in our region. At its lowest point, April 2020, the number of observations was reduced to around 15% of normal data volumes which has since recovered and currently is steady at ~50% to 60% of normal levels.
This prompted other priorities to be followed by members of the Task Team, namely obtaining other sources of ABO data including the private sector e.g., Automated Flight Information Reporting System (AFIRS), AMDAR and Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological DAta Reporting (TAMDAR) data owned by FLYHT (a Canadian aviation communications company).
 Although temporary, while the COVID-19 crisis exists in the U.S., an agreement was struck with FLYHT for all of their global data to be routed to the WMO Information System (WIS) via the Met Office, UK. The operational feed started on 7th April with unrestricted use of the data. Many global NWP centres are now accessing and assimilating the AFIRS and TAMDAR data operationally. Although these data are similarly impacted by reduced flights, they help to supplement the missing AMDAR and ADS-C data which in Europe includes the occasional TAMDAR water vapour observation. In the figure (left), AFIRS and TAMDAR data contributed 11,673 observations globally compared with only 9,948 provided by the E-AMDAR programme.
This data feed will be renegotiated after the COVID-19 crisis is over by which time NWP centres in RA VI hopefully would have had a chance to assess the impact and value of the AFIRS and TAMDAR data on European models. If we know the value of the data, then we will be in a better position to negotiate a commercial contract for the data subject to a business case being submitted, likely to EUMETNET.
The rapid development of European Mode-S data by EMADDC has created a new source of aircraft data to supplement AMDAR and ADS-C data. Currently EMADDC receives surveillance data from the following partners:
For the duration of the COVID-19 situation, all partners have authorised EMADDC to use their data and make the operational output available. The Mode-S derived data product files (in BUFR) also were made available for access from the end of April 2020 providing users more than five million additional aircraft observations daily across Europe.
 COVID-19 continues to have a large impact on the availability of aircraft observations. Recovery was expected to be slightly better at this stage and increase further to ~90% by the end of 2020, but the second wave of infections across Europe and the resulting quarantine/restrictions re-imposed by governments have slowed the expected demand for air travel with airlines again reducing schedules/flights.
While we were expecting more AMDAR data, we still are receiving the global AFIRS and TAMDAR data (for free) and the EMADDC team continues to provide and improve the availability and quality of the European Mode-S derived observation data. Most Members either are assimilating these data or working to do so as soon as possible.
It should be noted that although we still are being impacted by COVID-19, in Europe we have access to many more daily ABO wind and temperature data now than we ever had pre-COVID thanks to the mitigation measures that have been put in place.
The TT-ABO and E-ABO Expert Team are forming sub-regional ABO development plans which currently are being further revised as a result of COVID-19 and the evolving aviation industry recovery expectations. Predicting what will happen by the end of 2020 is difficult enough, so trying to forecast to the end of 2021 or 2022 currently is just guesswork.
The following are lessons learnt from the COVID-19 experience that should be considered before moving forward with planning.
metoffice [dot] gov [dot] uk (Steve Stringer), Chair RA VI TT-ABOAMDAR Data Help Meteorologists Forecast Wildfire Conditions in Los Angeles CountyOne of the largest wildfires in the history of Los Angeles County, California burned more than 100,000 acres and more than 100 buildings. The fire started on September 6th, 2020 in the San Gabriel Mountains just outside the Los Angeles metropolitan area (see map) and it still was burning almost a month later. Wildfires in southern California even can threaten the large metropolitan areas during periods of prolonged drought, offshore winds and extremely high temperatures.
 The United States Forest Service Angeles National Forest incident web page posted the weather information at right, provided by NWS meteorologists at the NWS Los Angeles forecast office.
 AMDAR soundings from Los Angeles International Airport (see below) corroborated the exceptionally high overnight minimum temperatures of over 100°F (38°C). NWS meteorologist Joe Sirard remarked “The computer models forecasted high temperatures of 120°F in the San Fernando Valley that afternoon. We were reluctant to forecast what would be all time records, but the AMDAR soundings gave us confidence to do so.” The high temperatures later that day did reach 120°F (49°C) in some locations establishing new all-time heat records.
 The AMDAR sounding mentioned in the discussion is shown at left.
The highlighted data in the sounding shows a temperature of 102°F (39°C) at a pressure altitude of 2070 feet. The easterly winds suggest that fire, or at least smoke, could begin to move towards the populous Los Angeles suburbs. Evacuation orders were issued for parts of the western suburbs of Altadena and Pasadena on September 8th. Some of these orders were not lifted until two weeks later.
AMDAR observations can be a very useful source of wind and temperature information in support of wildfires and controlled burning of forests. WVSS-II soundings can be useful as the moisture data is a component in calculating fire weather parameters such as the Haines Index. Expansion of the AMDAR program to additional mountainous areas served by regional aircraft would make it available for even greater fire weather support.
richard [dot] mamrosh
noaa [dot] gov (Richard Mamrosh), U.S. National Weather Service, Green Bay, Wisconsin |
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