1. SIGMET Coordination Christopher Keohan
Regional Officer, Air Navigation Systems Implementation (Meteorology)
Workshop on SIGMET Coordination for PT/EAST States; Minsk, 13 Jun 2017

2. History
METG Decision 23/4 – ad-hoc group to align EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide (EUR Doc 014) to global template
That an ad-hoc group consisting of representatives from United Kingdom (rapporteur), Denmark, Latvia, Slovenia, IATA and ICAO be tasked to: …
c) include guidance related to providing SIGMET that is phenomenon based that may involve multiple Flight Information Regions (FIR) and coordination with border FIRs in the context of Annex3;

3. History METG Decision 24/5 – ad-hoc group EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide
That an ad-hoc group consisting of representatives from United Kingdom (rapporteur), Denmark, France, Latvia, Slovenia, IATA and ICAO be tasked to: …
b) include guidance related to providing SIGMET that is phenomenon based that may involve multiple Flight Information Regions (FIR) and coordinate with border FIRs in the context of Annex 3 and provide METG/25 with a proposal.

4. History
METG Decision 25/3 – ad-hoc group to study and review SIGMET coordination within the EUR Region
That an ad-hoc group consisting of representatives from United Kingdom (rapporteur), Austria, Croatia, France, Latvia, Norway, Spain, Russian Federation, IATA and ICAO be tasked to:
a) Identify the various groups amongst METG members currently involved in SIGMET co-ordination;
b) Gather existing procedures for SIGMET co-ordination practices currently in operation from these groups;
c) Seek feedback from the various groups regarding experiences working within their current co-ordination procedures – highlighting strengths and weaknesses;
d) Gather the future work plans from these co-ordination groups;
e) Analyse information garnered from b)-d) in order to determine best international practice with regard to SIGMET co-ordination;

5. History
METG Decision 25/3 – ad-hoc group to study and review SIGMET coordination within the EUR Region (continued)
That an ad-hoc group consisting of representatives from United Kingdom (rapporteur), Austria, Croatia, France, Latvia, Norway, Spain, Russian Federation, IATA and ICAO be tasked to:
f) present two outputs for consideration at METG/26;
Develop appropriate guidance material for cross-FIR SIGMET co-ordination procedures between MET ANSPs that may be used as a common minimum standard
Develop a proposal to address harmonisation of the more complex aspects of the co-ordination process (for example, intensity of phenomena)

6. History
METG Draft Conclusion 26/2 – EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide (EUR Doc 014)
That the ICAO Regional Director, Europe and North Atlantic, on behalf of the EANPG, undertake the necessary action to publish the revised EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide (EUR Doc 014) to include the proposals as provided at Appendix E that includes:
a) Guidance material for cross-FIR SIGMET coordination procedures between MET ANSPs; …

7. SIGMET Coordination based on survey
Many States coordinate (blue arrows)
proposal provides harmonization on how to coordinate/rules to apply
assists in future coordination (gold arrows)

8. SIGMET coordination for PT/EAST States
Pilot project on coordination
Some Russian Federation FIRs and Belarus
Successful in developing methods to eliminate inconsistencies at FIR boundary
Single web platform created for information exchange and MWO interaction
Expand project and request workshop
More MWOs in Russian Federation
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

9. SIGMET Coordination for PT/EAST States
EANPG Conclusion 58/16 – Workshop on SIGMET coordination for PT/EAST States
That the ICAO Regional Director, Europe and North Atlantic, on behalf of the EANPG, undertake the necessary action to coordinate with the Russian Federation on organizing and conducting a Workshop on SIGMET coordination for PT/EAST States in 2017, preferably back-to-back with PT/EAST/17.

10. ICAO Guidance EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide (EUR Doc 014)
Revised 31 Jan 2017 to include:
Coordination between MWOs with responsibility for neighbouring FIRs (para 2.5)
Template for Letter of Agreement (App K)
SIGMET coordination process template (App L)
Example proforma for logging of SIGMET coordination – bilateral phone calls statistics (App M)
(ref. EANPG Conclusion 58/15 refers)

11. ICAO Guidance EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide (EUR Doc 014)
Why coordinate? (EUR Doc 014, para 2.5):
Provide consistent information to operators and ATC service providers
Stakeholders base decisions on consistent, coherent MET info

12. ICAO Guidance EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide (EUR Doc 014)
Agreements between MET Service Providers (EUR Doc 014, App K):
Facilitate the implementation of SIGMET coordination procedures between two MWOs
Detail cross-FIR SIGMET coordination procedure in Annex to LoA

13. ICAO Guidance EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide (EUR Doc 014)
Agreements between MET Service Providers (EUR Doc 014, App K):
LoA includes
Objectives
Operational Status
Areas of Responsibility
Procedures
Cancellation
Coordination meetings
Validity
Appendix – areas of responsibility
Annex 1. SIGMET coordination procedures

14. ICAO Guidance EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide (EUR Doc 014)
Agreements between MET Service Providers (EUR Doc 014, App K):
LoA Annex 1. SIGMET coordination procedures
Purpose
Initiation
Communication
Contact details
Language
Responsibilities
Maintaining logs when agreement not reached
Contingency arrangements

15. ICAO Guidance EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide (EUR Doc 014)
Template coordination process (EUR Doc 014, App L):
Language
Customer location / forecast area
Purpose of service
Description of requirement
Production methodology
Amendment criteria
Map of States’ FIRs including large scale (to be inserted by States)

16. l EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide (EUR Doc 014) App M – call log  yes no
MWO:
Date/Time (UTC)
SIGMET
Phenomenon :
Exchange with MWO(s) (Name, FIR):
Call made before the issuance of the SIGMET?:YESNO
Who called whom?
Result of the
Discussion:
Agreement on SIGMET issuance
Agreement on duration
Agreement on horizontal extent
Agreement on vertical extent
 yes no
Additional remarks:
Signature:
(Forecaster on duty)
EUR SIGMET and
AIRMET Guide
(EUR Doc 014)
App M – call log