New Product for the Aviation Traffic Management System
FSL has developed a Northern Hemisphere Winds Aloft (NHWA) and Jet Stream product to run in real time on the FSL developed Aviation Weather Network (AWN) system running operationally at the Volpe National Transporation Systems Center (VNTSC). Both products will be available in the new version of the Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS), which is scheduled to be released operationally in late October or early November 2002.
The ETMS is used at Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) in support of strategic air traffic flow decision making for the National Air-Space System (NAS). The Jet Stream product will be available for display at over 100 locations for use in vectoring aircraft enroute to their destinations. The NHWA product is used at the ETMS hub as input into the ETMS flight modeling routine for tracking aircraft, predicting aircraft location, and strategic planning for alert areas based on air space capacities.
The Jet Stream Product is derived from the NHWA product. The NHWA product was created by combining the 40km Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) wind information every 50mb with the Global Forecast System (formerly Aviation Model) 1 degree resolution, 50mb wind grid. The NHWA is a grid that contains 15 flight levels (from 3000ft to 45,000ft in 3,000ft increments) with high-resolution information over the US and 1 degree resolution over the remainder of the northern hemisphere. The NHWA and Jet Stream products will be updated every three hours.
We are currently discussing, with VNTSC, the next generation of this product. It would enhance the accuracy of the information by increasing the temporal and spatial resolution of the input RUC and Global Forecast System model data.
Contact information
Name: Greg Pratt
Tel: (303) 497-7237
pratt@fsl.noaa.gov