A Survey of Selected Aviation Weather Products

Abstract

This survey was commissioned by the National Weather Service (NWS), U.S. Department of Commerce. Its purpose is to obtain a fairly comprehensive inventory of aviation weather products available at the middle of calendar year 2011. The survey will be used by the NWS to determine where gaps in service lie and how to fill those gaps through development of new or improved products. The survey is also a reference work that developers and consumers of aviation weather products should find useful. An aviation weather product is any source of information about atmospheric conditions from the surface to the lower stratosphere, which is of interest to those who fly. Much of this information is available to the public on the Internet in the form of text, weather charts, and other graphical displays that pertain to aviation safety and the efficiency of flight operations. Some information is available only to government agencies responsible for controlling air traffic, for example, maintaining aircraft separation, routing aircraft around hazardous weather, maintaining efficient use of airspace, and expediting landings and takeoffs. Such specialized information appears on dedicated graphical display devices or, when seconds count, may even be transmitted verbally. Another large class of aviation weather products, most of it proprietary, is generated by the private sector and sold to commercial airlines and a host of general aviation (GA) customers