1. 1 Weather Data from Commercial Aircraft (aka AMDAR, MDCRS, ACARS. TAMDAR) October 24, 2008 David Helms david.helms@noaa.gov NOAA/NWS Office of Science and Technology

2. 2 Why NOAA Observes the Atmosphere? Current verses Objective Resolution Requirements ▼ ▼ Reference: Schlatter, et al, 2005: A Phenomenological Approach to the Specification of Observational Requirements ▼ ▼ Current Objective Req.

3. 3 Integrated Upper-Air Observing System (IUOS) IUOS characteristics – Future IUOS will be: Adaptable, extensible, stable, continuous, and quality assured Cost-effective – avoid unnecessary duplication Serving multi-purposes - including driving Earth-system models Final Operating Capability: “Optimal” mix of NOAA and non-NOAA observation platforms including both in situ and remote sensors

4. 4 First Weather Bureau and Regional Airline Collaboration

5. 5 What is AMDAR? Aircraft Meteorological DAat and Reporting (AMDAR): An international effort within the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to coordinate the collection o f environmental observations from commercial aircraft U.S. AMDAR - Meteorological Data Collection and Reporting System (MDCRS): A private/public partnership established in early 1980’s to facilitate the collection of atmospheric measurements from commercial aircraft to improve aviation safety –Communications: ARINC and SITA air-to-ground network –Sensors: TAT Probe for temperature and PTOT Tube for wind; WVSS is GFE –On-board Data Processing: Aircraft avionics software (Honeywell, etc) AirDat, LLC - Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Reporting (TAMDAR) A private company established in 2002 from a NASA Langley CRIDA for GA Safety. AirDat is a for profit company that sells weather data to the Wx Enterprise and air-to- ground communications and services to the air carriers –Communications: Satellite through Iridium –Sensors: Turn-key suite – temperature, RH, winds, EDR, LED icing –On-Board Data Processing: Embedded in TAMDAR probe

6. 6 U.S. AMDAR (MDCRS) Participants: American, Delta, FedEx, Northwest, Southwest, United, United Parcel Service NOAA and FAA 1,500 participating aircraft, mostly Boeing and Airbus CONUS: 150,000 Observations per Day

7. 7 24hrs AMDAR Data Collection: Southwest U.S. WkSuMoTuWeThFrSa Phoenix (PHX)15211182925302118 Tucson (TUS)321067675 32 1067675

8. 8 TAMDAR Participants: Mesaba, PenAir, Horizon, Republic, Chautauqua, Shuttle America AirDat, LLC 250 Aircraft – Saab 340, ERJ, CRJ 30,000 Observations per Day

9. 25 5075 10 20 30 40 50 100125 255075100125 290 mph 600 mph DescentAscent +5min +10min +22min Aircraft Climb Rate: ~1.5kft/minAircraft Descent Rate: ~1.0kft/min -28min -20min -10min +10min +20min +30min +50min +40min Avg Wind: 60 Kts 600 mph Aircraft Speed Kft Balloon Climb Rate: ~1.0kft/min Distance (NM) AMDAR Data Collection: Comparison to Radiosonde

10. 10 AMDAR Data Collection: Sampling Frequency

11. 11 AMDAR Data Collection: Ascent/Descent Sampling Frequency

12. 12 AMDAR Data Collection: En Route Sampling Frequency

13. 13 NWS Forecast Office Applications Data Comparison (Radiosonde, Radar, Profilers) Marine (Wind and Wave Forecasts) Fire Weather (Haines Index, Mixing Heights) High Wind Events (Santa Ana, Front Range, Synoptic) Aviation (Ceiling, Visibility, LLWS) Winter (Precipitation Type, Lake Effect Snow) Convective Storms (Watch and Warning Decisions)

14. 14 Data Comparison Wind Profilers Commercial aircraft GOES and POES Satellites Wind Estimates from Doppler Radar RadiosondesNumerical models

15. 15 High Winds Schematic of Santa Ana winds in southern California

16. 16 High Winds AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NWS SAN DIEGO CA 1120 PM PST FRI DEC 22 2006.DISCUSSION... UPDATE TO UPGRADE THE WIND ADVISORY FOR THE INLAND EMPIRE AND THE SANTA ANA MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS TO A HIGH WIND WARNING THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON SATURDAY. RECENT ACARS SOUNDINGS FROM ONTARIO SHOW A VERY IMPRESSIVE SUBSIDENCE INVERSION NEAR 700 MB FAVORABLE FOR MOUNTAIN WAVE DEVELOPMENT AS WELL AS AN OVERALL STRONG WIND FIELD BELOW 700 MB WITH WINDS UP TO 50 KNOTS OR SO. WINDS IN THE WINDIER LOCATIONS...BELOW THE CAJON PASS AND NEAR FREMONT CANYON HAVE GUSTED TO AROUND 60 MPH IN THE PAST HOUR. Santa Ana

17. 17 High Winds AMDAR sounding at 0411 UTC December 23, 2006 from Ontario, California showing mountain top inversion and strong wind field. Santa Ana

18. 18 RAIN KSDF 151843Z 06015KT 2 1/2SM RA BR OVC013 01/M01 A3001 RMK AO2 RAB30 Winter Precip @ SDF

19. 19 METAR KSDF 160156Z 05009G17KT 5SM -PL BR OVC020 M01/M04 A3009 RMK AO2 FZDZE55PLB55 SLP192 P0001 T10111039 = FZRA, FZDZ, PL Winter Precip @ SDF

20. 20 KSDF 160556Z 04009KT 4SM -PL BR OVC018 M03/M04 A3006= KSDF 160456Z 04010KT 6SM -PL BR OVC020 M02/M04 A3007= ICE PELLETS Winter Precip @ SDF

21. 21 AMDAR Future: Building on our Success AMDAR/Water Vapor Sensor System (WVSS II) 2005: 25 sensors installed on UPS B- 757 2008-2009: Re-engineered WVSSII to be installed on 31 SWA and 25 UPS TAMDAR: Since 2004: 250 sensors installed on various aircraft AirDat is completing its adding the TAMDAR sensor to 450 aircraft in 2009 Adding Water Vapor to Data Collection:

22. 22 AMDAR Links: AMDAR Flyer http://www.wmo.ch/web/aom/amprog/Publications/Final%20Production%20AMDAR%20Flyer.pdf U.S. AMDAR Page http://amdar.noaa.gov/ Automated Meteorological Reports from Commercial Aircraft by Bill Moninger, Rich Mamrosh, and Pat Pauley (2003). Published in the February, 2003 issue of the Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 84, 203-216. http://amdar.noaa.gov/docs/bams/ http://amdar.noaa.gov/docs/bams/ Optimization Requirements Document for the Meteorological Data Collection and Reporting System / Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay System, 2006, submitted to NOAA by ARINC. http://amdar.noaa.gov/docs/ARINC_Optimization_%20Req_March2006.pdf

23. 23 Comments??? David Helms 301-713-3557 x193 david.helms@noaa.gov NOAA/ NWS Office of Science and Technology

24. 24 Observation Accuracies – Temperature and Wind Speed - More discussions of observed data quality will follow Comparison of AMDAR and GPS radiosonde winds

25. 25 Avg # Reports per 6hr Cycle (+/- 3 hr window) per Layer Count by Pressure Layer (mb) Temperature Observation Counts North American Domain (20-70 North, 60-140 West) January 2006 2500 Aircraft Obs vs. 200 Radiosonde Obs per Layer

26. 26 Avg # Reports per 6hr Cycle (+/- 3 hr window) per Layer Count by Pressure Layer (mb) Wind Observation Counts North American Domain (20-70 North, 60-140 West) January 2006 2500 Aircraft Obs vs. 200 Radiosonde Obs per Layer  Max Count = VAD Winds

27. 27 Avg # Reports per 6hr Cycle (+/- 3 hr window) per Layer Count by Pressure Layer (mb) Relative Humidity Observation Counts North American Domain (20-70 North, 60-140 West) January 2006 300 Aircraft Obs vs. 170 Radiosonde Obs per Layer

28. 28 AMDAR Data Collection: Sometimes too much data?? Numbers indicate average number of ascent/descent soundings per day during the week of April 10, 2005 157 100 208 64 96 DAL: 31 DFW: 23 AFW: 10 64 13 5 53 20 15 1 1818 13 1 LAX:120 SAN: 24 ONT: 23 BUR: 3 170 54 SFO: 78 OAK: 39 SMF: 10 MHR: 7 SJC: 7 FAT: 1 142 JFK: 64 EWR: 39 LGA: 32 135 43 15 22 24 35 31 6 7 13 10 17 5 64 7 14 5 5 18 22 8 2 8 13 7 8 5 9 1 1717 Average Daily MDCRS Aircraft Soundings (Ascents and Descents) 26 15 13 9 9 9 7 7 7 5 5 5 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 6 142 3 170 1 4

29. 29 MDCRS Data: Surface to 15K ft MDCRS Data: 15Kft to 40K ft Most Observations Above 25K ft Most Ascents/Descents In the Midwest and East and West Coasts AMDAR Data Collection: Spatial Coverage

30. 30 Weekly Data Availability Varies by 40% Daily Data Availability Varies by 60% AMDAR Data Collection: Temporal Coverage