CBS-16/INF.4.1(3), p. 4
World Meteorological OrganizationCOMMISSION FOR BASIC SYSTEMS
Sixteenth Session
Guangzhou, China, 23 to 29 November 2016 / CBS-16/INF.4.1(3)
Submitted by:
Secretary-General
19.IX.2016
REQUIREMENTS OF THE AERONAUTICAL METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES
AERONAUTICAL METEOROLOGY AS A WMO PRIORITY AREA AND THE COMMISSION FOR AERONAUTICAL METEOROLOGY
1. Introduction
1.1. International civil aviation is a key user of the services of Members, and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is continuing in its pursuit to progressively introduce requirements for aeronautical meteorological information to be made available to users in the extensible markup language (XML)/geography markup language (GML) that is referred to by ICAO as "digital form". Exchange of aeronautical meteorological information using such international industry standards is seen as a key enabler to the globally interoperable, harmonized air traffic management (ATM) system of the future, as envisioned by ICAO’s Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP) and its aviation system block upgrades (ASBU) methodology. Moreover, ICAO is in the process of establishing new and/or updated provisions (regulations) concerning other aspects of aeronautical meteorological service provision in support of the future global ATM, including information and services to support trajectory-based operations (TBO), which will require enhancement of existing systems such as the world area forecast system (WAFS), international airways volcano watch (IAVW), tropical cyclone watch, as well as the development of new systems and services for hazardous enroute weather conditions and space weather.
2. Evolving ICAO requirements and implications for WMO and its Members
2.1. ICAO has reduced the time interval between amendments to Annex 3 – Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation[1] to the Convention on International Civil Aviation from once every three years to once every two years. Consequently, amendments to ICAO Annex 3 will next be expected in 2018, 2020 and so on; these amendments will need to be supported by changes to the IWXXM family of data representations. This faster cycle for introduction of ICAO provisions contrasts with the decision of the Seventeenth World Meteorological Congress to limit intergovernmental sessions of the Commission for Basic Systems to a four-year cycle.
2.2. Notwithstanding, transitioning from a three-year to a two-year amendment cycle of ICAO Annex 3 will, potentially, lend itself more favourably to the amendment cycle of related WMO publications. For instance, Cg-17 approved Recommendation 5 of CBS-Ext.(2014) whereby, with effect 1 January 2016, the Commission was authorized to apply the procedure for the adoption of amendments between its sessions to changes to the Manual on Codes (WMO-No. 306), the Manual on the Global Telecommunications System (WMO-No. 386) and the Manual on the WMO Information System (WMO-No. 1060) that are required to support the implementation of amendments to ICAO Annex 3. Moreover, Decision 37 (EC-68) requested the Secretary-General to take appropriate actions to update the Manual on Codes and the Manual on the WMO Information System to conform to the fast track changes and the between sessions procedure made since EC-67.
2.3. In the interest of fostering implementation by Members of certain Annex 3 provisions, ICAO may consider having a greater lead time between adoption and applicability dates. Typically, the ICAO Council adopts and makes applicable new or amended Annex provisions in the same calendar year; however, the ICAO Council has the liberty to decide on a later applicability if so desired.
2.4. In respect of the upcoming 2018 and 2020 amendments to Annex 3 (Amendments 78 and 79 respectively), ICAO may propose, subject to ICAO Meteorology Panel (METP), Air Navigation Commission and Council endorsement, the following:
(a) To upgrade existing provisions concerning the issuance of METAR and SPECI, TAF and SIGMET as well as for AIRMET, volcanic ash advisories (VAA) and tropical cyclone advisories (TCA)[2] in XML/GML from recommended practices to standards as part of Amendment 78 or 79[3];
(b) To introduce new provisions concerning the issuance by designated global and regional centres of information on space weather as part of Amendments 78 and/or 79[4]; and
(c) To introduce new provisions (standards and/or recommended practices) that would modify the current practice of the issuance of SIGMET information, potentially as early as Amendment 79.
Of these proposals, (a) would necessitate little, if any, change to the extant ICAO Meteorological Information Exchange Model (IWXXM) since this was purely a change in status (recommended practice to Standard), while (b) and (c) would lead to some, potentially significant, further development of IWXXM necessitating CBS support going forwards.
2.5. In addition to the foregoing, the World Area Forecast Centres (WAFCs), London and Washington, which are designated to provide gridded global forecasts of wind, temperature and other parameters in GRIB Edition 2 as well as global forecasts of significant weather (SIGWX) phenomena in BUFR Edition 3 within the framework of the world area forecast system (WAFS), are conducting studies that may eventually lead to further improvements to the temporal and spatial resolutions as well as to the data representation of the WAFS forecasts, perhaps as early as Amendment 79 (2020).
3. Inter-commission collaboration and coordination
3.1. In respect of XML/GML data representation, the progressive transition of aeronautical meteorological information from traditional alphanumeric code forms (TAC) and meteorological digital forms (GRIB and BUFR) to international industry standard XML/GML will serve aviation’s interoperability demands within the network-centric, information-/data-oriented SWIM environment of global ATM, and there is expected to be a period of transition to be determined by ICAO in consultation with WMO. Continued collaboration and coordination between ICAO and WMO, as well as between CBS and CAeM – especially through the CBS OPAG-ISS Task Team on Aviation XML (TT-AvXML) and the CAeM Expert Team on Information and Services for Aviation (ET-ISA) – will remain essential. The terms of reference of TT-AvXML were amended by CBS-Ext.(2014) to better enable the group to address the additional (ICAO) requirements for XML data representation included in Amendment 77 to Annex 3 (applicable 10November 2016) as well as capacity development activities. ET-ISA was established by the CAeM as a consequence of the outcomes of the conjoint ICAO/WMO Meteorology Divisional Meeting in 2014.
3.2. In this connection, Cg-17 approved Recommendation 10 of CBS-Ext.(2014) concerning the representation of aviation information in XML, and that, inter alia, a third volume, Volume I.3, of the Manual on Codes (WMO-No. 306) that documented XML data representation derived from a logical data-modelling approach has taken effect since 1January2016. Moreover, reference copies of the XML schemas, code lists and other machine-readable entities required to support the operational use of XML data representation have been published on the Internet using the “wmo.int” domain.
3.3. Given the intrinsic relationship between the aeronautical meteorological services in SWIM and that in the WMO Information System (WIS), including the metadata, there is a need to ensure that developments on the ICAO side (SWIM) and the WMO side (WIS) are complimentary, interoperable and harmonized, making optimal and best use of the available international industry standards for protocols, hardware and software. This need includes as SWIM and WIS relate to the continued advancement of the IWXXM (in coordination with the ICAO METP and its concerned working groups) and the WMO Modèle pour l'Echange des informations sur le Temps, le Climat et l'Eau (METCE) (in coordination with CBS and CAeM and their concerned task teams/expert teams).
3.4. Although data representations form an essential component of the SWIM, the "data-driven" approach adopted by SWIM has broader implications for systems operated by WMO Members. A change in technology is needed for ICAO's AMHS[5] telecommunications system to deliver the capability needed by SWIM, and CBS will need to work with CAeM to ensure that SWIM and WIS are interoperable. In order to meet the vision of SWIM that information users will be able to make a single request for only the information they need, even if that information is generated by different information providers (such as a combination of weather, flight plan and airport information), contributions will be needed from the OPAGs on ISS and DPFS, and potentially from PWS, in order to make sure that the design of the system can be implemented in an effective, efficient and economical way by all Members, following ICAO’s guiding principle of "no country left behind".
3.5. In respect of space weather, an Inter-programme Coordination Team on Space Weather (ICTSW) was established in May 2010 following a proposal from CBS-14 supported by CAeM and approved by EC-LXI. Since its inception, the ICTSW has greatly assisted CBS, CAeM and ICAO in advancing the understanding of, inter alia, the methods of observing and forecasting space weather events with impacts on international air navigation, and the roles, responsibilities, capabilities and overall number of global and regional forecasting centres as well as their designation process, governance and cost recovery principles, competency standards and duration of mandate. Moreover, Cg-17 (Resolution 38) agreed that WMO would facilitate international commitments and enable the establishment of operational space weather services, in particular in the context of support to ICAO, and that a four-year plan for WMO coordination of space weather activities was established together with draft terms of reference of an Inter-Programme Team on Space Weather Information, Systems and Services (IPT-SWISS) as a successor to ICTSW. IPT-SWISS will be established jointly under CBS and CAeM, contributing to relevant expert teams of these Commissions as well as other groups of technical commissions including those of CIMO and CAS. As alluded to above, ICAO may introduce provisions for operational space weather services with Amendment 78 (2018) and/or Amendment 79 (2020) to Annex 3. In this regard, WMO through IPT-SWISS will have an important advisory role to play on the designation of the global and regional space weather centres and validation of their service capabilities.
3.6. Also in relation to developments envisioned by ICAO’s GANP and ASBU methodology, the WMO World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) is leading an Aviation Research and Development Project (AvRDP), as a joint venture between the Commission for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS), CAeM and CBS, in order to develop, demonstrate and quantify the benefits of end-to-end nowcasting (0 to 6 hour timeframe) of aeronautical meteorological services for the terminal area focused on high-impact weather (https://avrdp.hko.gov.hk/). Resolution 44 (Cg-17)requested, inter alia, the presidents of CAS, CAeM and CBS to:
(a) Establish effective coordination in implementing the AvRDP activities; and
(b) To stimulate and coordinate research and development activities and studies of nowcasting methods, numerical predication tools and assimilation methods to increase the potential benefits of AvRDP implementation for Members.
3.7. Furthermore, Resolution 44 (Cg-17) requested the Secretary-General to, inter alia, support, within available budgetary resources, the implementation of AvRDP and to organize appropriate events for the dissemination of project results for the maximum benefit of Members. In this regard, a special session on AvRDP was held in Hong Kong, China in July2016 during the WMO/WWRP 4th International Symposium on Nowcasting and Very-short-range Forecast (WNS16).
3.8. Moreover, EC-68 gave necessary consideration to AvRDP as an inter-commission aviation research project. Decision 44 (EC-68) endorsed, inter alia, a proposal for organizing in 2017 a WMO scientific event (conference, symposium or workshop) with broad participation of research, operations and user communities, with the objective to identify needs and plan the research activities during ASBU Block 1 and Block 2 timeframes. In this respect, a WMO scientific event is in the early stages of planning, where details on the date, venue, agenda and expected outcomes of the event will be communicated to Members in due course.
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[1] ICAO Annex 3 is reproduced as WMO-No. 49 Technical Regulations, Volume II – Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation.
[2] The issuance of AIRMET, VAA and TCA in XML/GML is a recommended practice with effect 10 November 2016.
[3] XML/GML data representation will, for the foreseeable future, be in addition to their representation in TAC code form (for METAR, SPECI and TAF), abbreviated plain language (for SIGMET, AIRMET, VAA and TCA) and graphical format (for SIGMET, volcanic ash and tropical cyclone information).
[4] The provisions for space weather information may entail XML/GML data representation, TAC code form and/or graphical format.
[5] Aeronautical Message Handling System