Aviation Weather Division Presented to: NASA GPM-ACCP Transportation

Aviation Weather Division Presented to: NASA GPM-ACCP Transportation and Logistics Workshop November 4, 2020 Jason Baker Aviation Weather Division NextGen Organization Federal Aviation Administration

Outline Weather across the FAA NextGen Aviation Weather Division Overview Vision and Mission Branches Aviation Weather Research New Weather Concept Development Weather Engineering and Evaluation Policy and Requirements Offshore Precipitation Capability (OPC) Summary and Questions

Weather Across the FAA Administrator (AOA) Deputy Administrator (ADA) Assoc Admin for Aviation Safety (AVS) Approve Operational Av Wx Req Red outline box: Meteorological Authority for ICAO Yellow boxes: Weather research, international standards, and NextGen weather requirements Green boxes: Weather acquisition & O&M responsibilities Assistant Admin for NextGen (ANG) Chief Operating Officer (ATO) AJO-0 Flight Standards Service (AFS) Aircraft Certification Service (AIR) Air Traffic Services (AJT) Mission Support (AJV) Program Mgt Org (AJM) System Operations (AJR) Flight Technology Requirements Branch (AFS-430) Systems & Equipment Standards Branch (AIR-6B2) Technical Advisory Group (Contract Wx Observer) (AJT-22) ATO Operational Concepts, Validation & Requirements (AJV-7) Aviation Weather & Aeronautical (AJM-33) Flight Services Program Ops (AJR-B) Air Traffic Control Sys Command Center (AJR-11) Management Services (ANG-A) NAS Systems Eng & Int (ANG-B) Adv Concepts & Tech Dev (ANG-C) Engineering Devel Services Division (ANG-C3) Aviation Weather Branch (ANG-C34) Weather Research Branch (ANG-C61) William J Hughes Tech Center (ANG-E) NextGen Collab & Messaging Office (ANG-M) Aviation Weather Division (ANG-C6) New Wx Concept Devel Branch (ANG-C62) Wx Engineering & Evaluation Branch (ANG-C63) Policy & Req Branch (ANG-C64)

Aviation Weather Division (ANG-C6) Bill Bauman Weather Research Branch (ANG-C61) Randy Bass New Wx Concept Development Branch (ANG-C62) Everette Whitfield Aviation Weather Research Program Aviation Weather Integration Weather Technology in the Cockpit Contracts & Budget Research for Service Analyses Weather Forecast Improvement Safety Risk Management Wx Engineering & Evaluation Branch* (ANG-C63) Starr McGettigan Policy & Req Branch (ANG-C64) Pat Murphy Aviation Weather Demonstration and Evaluation International Weather Observation Improvements Requirements NextGen Weather Processor/Common Support Services-Wx WIMAT Runway Visual Range * Located at the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ Space Weather New ATM-Wx Trans FAA Wx Expert Service

Vision: A National Airspace System (NAS) free of weather caused delays, cancellations, diversions and accidents/incidents Mission: Assure the development, enhancement, dissemination, and integration of productive weather information into Air Traffic Management decisions by pilots, controllers, flight operations and airport operators

Policy and Requirements Branch Identifies and coordinates domestic and international weather requirements Core Functions: Collaboration with international partners to develop weather requirements Entry point for new weather service requests Leads Weather Information Modernization and Transition

Weather Needs Portal (WNP): https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/programs/weather/suggestions/ Aviation stakeholders can use the WNP to submit requests for weatherrelated products and services to the Policy & Requirements Branch (ANGC64). In addition to contact information, we ask for: A description of the aviation weather problem Existing operational gaps Benefits to aviation Potential users The proposed solution (optional) Other background information Scan this QR Code to go directly to the WNP Submission Form The WNP is currently in the beta-testing phase—there will be further development in the coming months, but please feel free to use the form now to submit your weather needs and become a beta tester. 7

What’s the Problem? FAA Systems & Users Stakeholde rs Researcher s Requirements Portal Validated Requireme nt Is the Problem Valid? Solution Deliver Results Provide to Users Leverage Existing Tech Engineerin g& Evaluation Research Transition to NWS Translate for FAA Transfer to Industry Users

Weather Research Branch Performs applied research intended to mitigate the impact of weather on the NAS, focusing on advancing the state of weather information such that it can be exploited for integration into NextGen decisionsupport tools. It also conducts research to develop, verify, and validate requirements for incorporation into Minimum Weather Service (MinWxSvc) standards. Core Functions: Manages Aviation Weather Research Program Manages Weather Technology in the Cockpit Program Coordinates research with other Federal agencies

AWRP 20 Year History of Success 1998: 40KM; 2002: 20KM; 2005: 13KM Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) 200 1 National Convective Wx Forecast 2002: CIP; 2004: FIP; 2011: FIP Severity; 2012: CIP/FIP RAP; 2014: CIP/FIP High Res; 2018; IP Alaska Icing Forecasts 2003: Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS); 2016: aviationweather.gov Web-based Products 2003: GTG; 2010: GTG2 (MidLevels); 2015 GTG3 (MtnWv & Low Lvl); 2019 GTG-N (Experimental) Turbulence Forecasts 2007: Experimental ADDS 2015: Operational ADDS 2012; Updated 2018 2014; Updated 2018 2014 201 7 Helicopter Emergency Medical Services Rapid Refresh (RAP) High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) Multi-Radar, MultiSensor (MRMS) Offshore Precipitation Capability (OPC)

Offshore Precipitation Capability Overview Offshore Precipitation Capability (OPC) Multi-Sensor Data Collection Weather Radar No Radar Lightning Satellite Numerical Model Machine Learning Convolutional Neural Network (2016) Offshore Storm Height and Precipitation Intensity Detects Detects weather weather outside outside radar radar coverage coverage High High spatial spatial resolution resolution Accuracy Accuracy of of location location Rapid Rapid update, update, low low latency latency Storm Height Analysis (kft) 6-Level Precipitation Intensity

NEXRAD/OPC Comparison NEXRAD Only Merged OPC and NEXRAD

OPC Video – Laura

Activities Recent: OPC output merges seamlessly with existing radar at the boundaries of radar coverage Incorporated Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) lightning feed into OPC; improving depiction of storm intensity Near Term: Expand domain of OPC to CONUS plus Hawaii and Guam later this year Incorporate up to 12 hour forecast element into OPC

Summary Weather is threaded throughout the FAA’s Mission Multiple FAA Lines of Business touch weather Aviation Weather Division has four branches, working together, to address aviation weather problems Our policy and requirements are driving our research OPC uses and is reliant upon GOES imagery and senor information

Jason Baker Aviation Weather Division [email protected]