SADIS MANAGEMENT REPORT

Transcription

1 SADIS MANAGEMENT REPORT V1.0 WAFC LONDON March 2005

2 FOREWORD F.1 In the final report of the SADISOPSG/2, Paragraph 2.10 and Conclusion 2/3 placed the following action on the United Kingdom as the provider State of SADIS. F.2 In order to extend the future annual reviews of the operational efficacy of the SADIS in step with the increase in SADIS VSAT installations, it was agreed that: a) ICAO should solicit the opinion of user States/users prior to each SADISOPSG meeting and report on the results to the group; and b) The service provider should be requested to provide annual Management reports prior to each SADIS meeting. F.3 This management report by the United Kingdom attempts to meet this requirement. Diagrams and other relevant documents are included in a series of Annexes to the report. F.4 A summary of the year s main events is provided at the beginning of the report. Further detail is given in the individual sections or in working papers and information papers to be presented at SADISOPSG/10. Richard Orrell WAFC London 23 March

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: YEAR 2004 TO 2005 E.1 The growth in the use of SADIS during the past 12 months has been small, though serious interest has been expressed by a number of new users. During this period a considerable and sustained amount of interest has been expressed in the use of the WAFS FTP service. Over 100 accounts have now been activated on the server. Two new authorised users have chosen to access their data via the WAFS FTP service only, with no intention of procuring a VSAT. E.2 The SADIS 2nd Generation (2G) service has been successfully implemented and a small number of users have purchased 2G reception hardware. The service was launched operationally on 12 November 2004 initially using non-quality controlled OPMET data. E.3 An updated SWH and SWM BUFR specification (Version 2.5) has been produced and circulated to the workstation manufacturers and known users of the BUFR encoded data. A further evaluation of workstation software is planned for later in This latest evaluation will review the depiction of BUFR encoded jet depths and medium level SIGWX (SWM) data, and the ability of the software to produce compliant charts without manual intervention. E.4 It is anticipated that operational SWM BUFR data from WAFC London will have been added to the SADIS broadcasts and to the WAFS FTP service prior to SADISOPSG/10. A number of minor changes have been made to the format of the BUFR encoded SWH bulletins. All changes of this kind have an impact on the end user and their implementation is always a challenging task for the SADIS provider who seeks to minimise any disruption to end user processes. E.5 A study has been completed by an independent IT security consultant about the security associated with the provision of the WAFS FTP service. No significant compromises have been identified with regard to the use of the service as a backup source of data but some recommendations for enhancements to the service have been made for users that wish to use this service as their primary source of data. A working paper has been submitted to SADISOPSG/10 to raise these issues and to recommend implementation. E.6 A GRIB and BUFR training seminar has been held in Bangkok for SADIS and ISCS users in the Asia/PAC region, and a further seminar in Lima for ISCS users in the SAM region. E.7 An international SADIS seminar is proposed to be held at the ICAO regional office in Paris during September The primary aim of this seminar is to provide an opportunity for users to meet with the hardware and software suppliers which may facilitate the migration to the SADIS 2G service and the procurement of ICAO compliant visualisation software. E.8 Administration messages have been issued on a regular basis during the year. These messages have been made available for viewing on the SADIS web site and the WAFS FTP service. 3

4 E.9 Five companies have been added to the list of suppliers of ICAO compliant visualisation software. E.10 Portable Network Graphics (PNG) formatted versions of the WAFC London SIGWX charts will become available from the WAFS FTP server very shortly. These can be viewed directly from a user's web browser. 4

5 CONTENTS 1. THE SYSTEM COMPONENTS Page 1.1 SADIS System Specification Broadcast Service Data Collection Service Back-up Services User Support Service SADIS Workstation Software SADIS Inventory Equipment Procured Services Annual Staff Requirement SADIS Technical Components and Costs Budgetary cost of 2G SADIS Hardware Protocol coptions available from SADIS 2G Suppliers of SADIS 2G hardware 19 Annex 1 Glossary of abbreviations 21 Annex 2 WAFC Backup Procedures 22 Annex 3 SADIS Operations Group Software Functionality Requirements 25 Annex 4 List of Commercial Suppliers of SADIS Visualisation Software SADIS USAGE & DATA VOLUMES 2.1 Status of Operational Systems Hub Infrastructure Data Rates and Broadcast Content Data Rates Content of Broadcast GRIB T.4 Charts WAFS SIGWX charts in PNG format OPMET Unscheduled Data on the SADIS Broadcast Tropical Cyclone Advisory Messages AIRMETs & GAMETs BUFR 39 5

6 New products 40 Annex 1 SADIS 2G Infrastructure 41 Annex 2 Data Type by Average Percentage Volume - March Annex 3 EUR region GAMETs available via SADIS 43 Annex 4 EUR Region AIRMETs available via SADIS 48 Annex 5 WAFS GRIB Distribution Schedule 50 Annex 6 WAFS Wind and Temperature Chart (T.4) Schedule 52 Annex 7 List of unscheduled bulletin headers transmitted on SADIS 54 Annex 8 Daily distribution of unscheduled OPMET bulletins on SADIS 66 Annex 9 Visualisation of BUFR encoded WAFS SIGWX Data (V2.5) PERFORMANCE OF THE VSAT & HUB 3.1 VSATS Installation procedures Returned Equipment - MTBF Service Interruptions Signal loss Sun/Satellite Conflicts Data Losses and re-sends 106 Annex 1 Status of Implementation of SADIS, as of 4 February DATA AVAILABILITY, TIMELINESS & SOURCE 4.1 Data Availability Summary of Administrative Messages issued between April 2004 and March Administrative Messages Issued by SADIS Gateway SIGWX Chart Areas WAFS GRIB-1 Data Sources of OPMET Data BUFR Encoded SIGWX Products High level BUFR encoded SIGWX charts Medium level BUFR encoded SIGWX charts 118 Annex 1 Assessment of Changes to the WAFS 120 Annex 2 Examples of SIGWX charts available on SADIS: 121 Examples of SWH WAFS Charts 4-1 to

7 WAFS Charts: Area K (SIO), Area D (ASIA), Area E (INDOC), Area G (MID), Area H (NAT), Area C (AFI), Area B (EURSAM) (Produced by WAFC London.) Examples of SWM/SWH Charts (FL100 to FL450) 4-8 to Examples WAFS Charts: EUR, MEA, ASIA SOUTH, NAT (Produced by WAFC London except NAT) Examples of SWH WAFS Charts 4-12 to Charts covering ICAO regions Area A (The Americas), Area I (North Pacific), Area F (South Pacific), Area M (North Pacific), Area H (NAT) and Area J (South Polar). (Produced by WAFC Washington.) 5. USER SERVICES 5.1 Help Desk Met Office Help Desk SADIS Gateway Help Desk Hardware Returns Procedure WAFS FTP Service SADIS User Guide SADIS Web Page GRIB and BUFR Training Seminars 142 Annex 1 WAFS FTP Service Technical Information Document 143 Annex 2 Met Office Help Desk Facility: Service Provision Agreement 153 Annex 3 Satelcom Returns Procedure & Forms 155 7

8 1. THE SYSTEM COMPONENTS 1.1 SADIS System specification (in compliance with the SADIS User Guide) The SADIS 1G broadcast infrastructure has remained unchanged since the SADISOPSG/9 meeting and has remained consistently stable throughout the last 12 months. The SADIS 2G broadcast infrastructure has been installed at WAFC London (Exeter), and Whitehill in accordance with SADISOPSG Conclusion 9/ Broadcast Service a) Distribution of WAFS upper wind, temperature and geo-potential height forecasts in GRIB1 code derived from 0000, 0600, 1200, and 1800 UTC model runs, and relative humidity (RH) fields for FL050, 100, 140, and 180; b) Distribution of WAFS upper wind and temperature forecasts (from 0000 and 1200 UTC model runs only) in T.4 facsimile chart format 1 ; c) Distribution of WAFS SIGWX (SWH and SWM) forecasts in T.4 facsimile chart form 2 ; d) Distribution of WAFC London derived high level SIGWX forecasts (SWH) in BUFR format; e) Distribution of WAFC London derived medium level SIGWX forecasts (SWM) in BUFR format following changes to WAFC London production software (scheduled for mid- April 2005); f) Distribution of OPMET information from the SADIS Gateway in alphanumeric format (METARs, TAFs, SPECIs, SIGMETs, special AIREPs, volcanic ash and tropical cyclone advisory statements) as made available by States to the SADIS provider State; g) European region AIRMETs and GAMETs h) Volcanic ash trajectory and dispersion charts (VAG) in T.4 facsimile format from VAACs Toulouse, Washington and Montreal (action is being taken to source charts from the other VAACs); i) Distribution of amendments to the foregoing as available. j) Provision of an operational real-time WAFS ftp service. Note 1: it is the expectation that the WAFS T4 wind and temperature charts will be removed from the broadcast on 1 July

9 Note 2: it is the expectation that the WAFS T4 SIGWX charts (SWH and SWM) will be removed from the broadcast on 30 November Data Collection Service a) Collection of relevant OPMET information from States by the SADIS Gateway (operated by UK National Air Traffic Services Ltd.). b) Monitoring and validation/quality controlling of data received at the SADIS Gateway to the agreed standards listed in the SADIS Gateway Operations Manual, available via URL The provision of real-time scheduled reports and off-line quality control analysis. c) Collection of other required WAFS products, such as WAFC Washington SIGWX charts and volcanic ash trajectory charts Back-up Services a) Reception of the United States ISCS broadcast (Atlantic broadcast; AOR) is available for data back-up purposes. ISCS data is also available to the SADIS provider via the GTS link to Washington (NWS Telecommunication Operations Centre [NWSTOC]). b) WAFS FTP service formally known as the SADIS FTP Backup Service - is available to all approved SADIS or ISCS recipients. c) ISDN connection between the Washington message switch (NWSTG) and Whitehill, the SADIS uplink station. This link can be used to send WAFS data from Washington to Whitehill in the event of the failure of the SADIS provider being able to populate SADIS with operational data. Testing of this new link has not proved successful. Consideration is being given to modifying the topology of this backup infrastructure. d) In the event of problems with the production and/or dissemination of WAFS GRIB from WAFC London a number of interruption scenarios have been identified. Action is being taken by WAFC London to enhance the resilience of its WAFS GRIB provision so that routinely formatted data can still be provided following multiple model run failures. It should be noted that one of the SADIS software functionality requirements agreed by SADISOPSG/6 is for workstation software to be able to correctly process Washington derived GRIB data that has been either re-headed with WAFC London (EGRR) headers, or transmitted with routine Washington headers (TTAAii KKCI). e) The new Exeter headquarters of the SADIS provider has considerably increased the resilience of the SADIS service and the production of WAFS products more generally by WAFC London. Two physically separate, independently powered computer halls can be used to promulgate WAFS data to Whitehill for uplink to the satellite. 9

10 1.1.4 User Support Service a) Met Office 24-hour help line/faults desk. b) Support programme and user trials as determined by the relevant ICAO groups. c) Dissemination of all SADIS administrative messages via the live broadcasts, WAFS FTP service and the SADIS web site. d) Maintenance of a SADIS News Page on the SADIS web site e) Dedicated hardware support and SADIS service assistance during normal office hours SADIS Workstation Software Concern was expressed by SADISOPSG/8 and WAFSOPSG/1 about the ability of some of the commercially available software packages to produce SIGWX charts from the BUFR code that are fully compliant with Annex 3 and the SADISOPSG software functionalities list. A copy of this functionality list is provided in Annex 3 to this chapter, and is also available from URL The SADIS provider is also of the opinion that some of the packages do have a number of deficiencies, some significant. However the situation has improved significantly since SADISOPSG/9. Currently five workstation packages can be considered compliant. These five packages have been identified on the SADIS web site at URL and are listed below. The following WAFS/SADIS workstation companies have produced visualisation software that can depict WAFS data in an ICAO compliant manner Corobor GST/3SI MapMaker Group Ltd I.E.S. Institute of Radar Meteorology (IRAM) The software evaluation process does not certify or endorse any single software application, neither does it recommend one application over another. The software evaluations are the results of software reviews that the Met Office has carried out on behalf of the ICAO SADIS Operations Group. The purpose of these reviews is to verify whether the applications can deliver certain minimum functions which the SADIS Operations Group considers are essential for the correct use of the WAFS and OPMET data. It remains the responsibility of the user to ensure that procured software meets their full requirements. It is not intended that the software evaluations fulfil this task. The results from the software evaluations may be used as one additional source of information to aid any procurement process but should not be viewed in isolation of other important procurement requirements. The software review process will need to be repeated if it is to continue to provide meaningf ul informati on following changes to the WAFS. For example, 10

11 between completion of the last reviews and SADISOPSG/10, two further significant changes have been implemented by WAFC London. Specifically:- introduction of jet depth information on the T4 SWH and SWM charts, and in the equivalent BUFR encoded data; introduction of BUFR encoded SWM data. Both of these changes required modifications and additions to the BUFR encoded bulletins, and consequently changes to the decoding and visualisation software. To ensure that the results from the software reviews remain up to date, a further review to ensure that these two new features are displayed correctly is scheduled just prior to SADISOPSG/10. The SADIS provider will continue to advise the workstation vendors with the intention of increasing the number of software packages reaching a compliancy standard. The SADIS provider has also offered to provide a consultancy service under commercial terms to other organisations who require guidance on how to provide WAFS charts that are fully compliant with the aforementioned standards. It should be noted that there is general agreement amongst SADIS users and the WAFCs that the majority of software packages already depict all of the other WAFS products (including GRIB data) and OPMET data in an effective and compliant manner. Full contact details for all eight suppliers of SADIS (or ISCS) workstation software are available from Annex 4 to this chapter. 1.2 SADIS Inventory Note. The inventory items identified below cover the equipment and staffing required to provide, operate and maintain the SADIS. The inventory includes: hub infrastructure (including all additions following the completion of the hub enhancement project) and communications circuits, ISCS data back up system, procured services, and staff. It should be noted that some equipment items are under lease and form part of a wider infrastructure. Costs of individual items cannot be separated from the required infrastructure that includes a significant part of the development of the software and technical configuration. The inventory is in accordance with the SADIS User Guide. 1. EQUIPMENT 1.1 Key Components of Hub Infrastructure and Communications Circuits The SADIS 1G hub infrastructure connection to the MET Office message switch (FROST) consists of a number of units developed in conjunction with EADS Astrium and other suppliers. These are installed either at Exeter or at the uplink site at Whitehill, Oxfordshire, UK Additional hub infrastructure has been installed at Exeter and Whitehill to provide a resilient SADIS 2G service. This hardware is physically separate from the SADIS 1G infrastructure. 11

12 Solely procured for SADIS (major components) SADIS gateway function software (developed specifically for the gateway as part of the NATS CoreMet system; see items under Not procured principally for SADIS ). Hewlett Packard L-Class servers to provide WAFS FTP service (see section 1.3) Principally procured for SADIS a) at the Met Office See section 1.3 for itemised components b) communications between Whitehill and Met Office 1) 2 Fibre Optic 64 Kbps circuits in support of SADIS 1G service 2) 2 Fibre Optic 64 Kbps circuits in support of SADIS 2G service c) at the uplink site (Whitehill) 1) units forming part of a totally integrated rack structure to provide SADIS 1G service, with back-up, referred to as Chain A and Chain B (see the list under sections 1.3); and 2) units and services leased from Cable and Wireless Communications Ltd. to support SADIS 1G and 2G services: 1 (70 to 140 MHz) convertor use of 1 (140 to C band) convertor use of satellite hub (lease represents only a very small part of this large aperture) for SADIS 1G and 2G services 3) units forming part of a totally integrated rack structure to provide SADIS 2G service, with back-up, (see the list under sections 1.3 d) communication link (SVC) between SADIS Gateway and Met Office in support of SADIS 1G service. e) communication link (utilising WMO TCP/IP sockets protocol) between SADIS Gateway and Met Office in support of SADIS 2G service. Not procured principally for SADIS a) message switch (FROST): total investment 1.2M* of which 2.69 per cent is attributable to SADIS usage: switching data to operational (1G) broadcast service and to 1G monitoring system - Corobor Comparitor (Breakdown: 1.34% to supply operational broadcast, 1.35% to supply monitoring facility); 12

13 b) message switch (FROST): total investment 1.2M* of which 1.06 per cent is attributable to SADIS FTP usage: switching data to operational FTP service; c) message switch (FROST): total investment 1.2M* of which 1.14 per cent is attributable to SADIS usage: switching data to 2G service. 2G monitoring system (Corobor Comparitor) not activated at time of submission of Inventory to SADISOPSG/10, but will be implemented shortly; d) allocated bandwidth (2Mbps bursting to 4Mbps) between server and Internet Service Provider (ISP) in support of the WAFS FTP service; and e) message switch (CoreMet System) *Budgeted cost ( 1,195,466) for providing TROPICS/FROST service during FY05/06. Note. Some elements of the CoreMet System are exclusively for the support of the SADIS gateway function. 1.2 ISCS data back-up system a) ISCS VSAT system, including TCP/IP receiver, and cables. Note. The equipment, including leases listed above, are being capitalized over the SADIS contract period. 13

14 1.3 Hub equipment and services located at Exeter and Whitehill Item Description Quantity Exeter Equipment to support SADIS 1G Network Management System (NMS Computer) MemoTech PAD (for NMS) Telecoms interface units Megabox CX1000 Frame Relay Switch (for NMS) Product display console including software (COROBOR) 1 1* 2 1* 1* Exeter Equipment (Spares) to support SADIS 1G Telecoms interface units Megabox NMS Spare CPU MemoTech PAD (for NMS) CX1000 Frame Relay Switch (for NMS) Note: communication links in support of SADIS 1G service are included in section 1,1 of Inventory. Whitehill earth station (SADIS 1G uplink equipment) Telecoms controller Megapac V rack assembly Station interface unit (SIU) 8360 Modulator 8471 Receive Demodulators 8550 Modem Switch L band upconverter X Term NMS simulator Equipment Rack Assembly (Chain 1) Equipment Rack Assembly (Chain 2) 2 1 1* * 12 1* 2 1 1* Whitehill earth station SADIS 1G (spares) 8471 Receive Demodulators Station interface unit (SIU) Megapac V rack assembly Mega PACV Frad units L band upconverter 8360 Modulator 8550 Modem Switch Whitehill services (leased from Cable & Wireless) 70 MHz to 140 MHz converters 140 MHz to C band converter Satellite Hub leased bandwidth 2* 2* 1 slot* Test Rig at Poynton Enhanced (SADIS1G) Simulator 1 14

15 7. Communications equipment for SADIS second generation (2G) trial now mostly absorbed into operational 2G infrastructure One QPSK de-modulator/receiver (Comtech EFD) and MegaPAC 2003 located in Zurich as a result of involvement in 2G trial. This section of the Inventory will be deleted next year ISDN back-up service to Washington (NWSTG) Mega PAC 2003 router (MP-2003) Mega PAC 2003 router plus expansion (MP B) ISDN 2e circuit A/B switch Interface cables Note. Hardware listed items under Section 9 are located at Whitehill WAFS FTP Service HP L2000 servers with 2Gb RAM 18Gb internal disk drives DVD-ROM Processors Note. The WAFS FTP Service as of 1 July Operational SADIS 2G Infrastructure 10.1 FROST port MegaPAC V 3* 10.3 MegaPAC * 10.4 Uplink modem (Comtech EF Data SDM-300a) Communications cabinet and lease MegaWatch and PC Corobor comparator software and PC Comtech EF Data CR100 redundancy switch XIO Modules SIO Modules Mb RAM Modules 2 *Note: includes one unit stored as a cold spare. 2. PROCURED SERVICES a) space segment annual lease: 1.2MHz wide frequency band dedicated to SADIS with minimum data rates at 38.4 Kbps; b) annual maintenance of Met Office and Whitehill site equipment (1G, 2G and WAFS FTP server) which is not leased; and c) gateway function: 15

16 1) communication circuits between Met Office and NATS infrastructure site; and 2) system maintenance. 3. ANNUAL STAFF REQUIREMENTS 3.1 Met Office of the UK Help desk Note. The Help desk acts as a first point of contact for all inquiries, including those concerning the OPMET Gateway function. Complex inquiries will be passed to a relevant expert. Experts are available either on a 24-hour rota basis, or as a daytime support with a call-out capability. Normal working hours Grade and skill 1. Help desk (first point of contact) Scientific supervisor Note. Outside normal working hours, the helpdesk facility is provided by the 24-hour positions below. 24-hour support Grade and skill 1. Operations systems analyst Systems analyst 2. Production systems analyst Systems analyst 3. Networks and services engineer Computer engineer 4. Networks and systems supervisor Technical supervisor Note. The total support for SADIS is considered as 1 percent of the total support provided by the help desk and operational support function. These functions comprise 4 X 24-hour rosters of six staff each and a three-man team providing the normal-working-hour help desk. Additional support Additional support Grade and skill 1. Systems integration team 20 per cent of network computer engineer 2. Administrator 75 per cent of executive office 16

17 3. International aviation management 15 per cent of manager 4. Data traffic 5 per cent communications engineer 5. Contract Procurement and Management, and invoicing 5 per cent of senior procurement officer 6. UNIX support 10 per cent of computer engineer 7. Web team support 10 per cent of web site designer Note. As a result of the audit of SADIS costs required by SCRAG, the help desk costs have been re-assessed and reduced to a level of 1 per cent of the total support offered. SADIS second generation (2G) operational implementation project Second generation roll-out Grade and skill 1. Manpower 15 per cent project manager 15 per cent network computer engineer 5 per cent engineering consultancy for systems support and maintenance 2. Budgets Engineering consultancy This project is now considered complete. This section of the Inventory will be deleted for year NATS infrastructure site (OPMET Gateway function) Note. See also note under 3.1 "Help desk" above. 24 hour support Grade and skill 1. Operational staff support 50 per cent of air traffic services assistant 2. Engineering staff support 10 per cent of systems engineer 75 per cent of day support engineer 3. SADIS administration support 50 per cent of air traffic services assistant 1.3 SADIS Technical Components and Costs *Denotes equipment reused from original broadcast system. 17

18 The SADIS 2nd Generation (2G) service was brought into operational status (initially using non-quality controlled OPMET data) on the 12 November Following this implementation all new users of the SADIS are advised to procure 2G hardware. In addition users with failing 1G hardware are advised to consider purchasing new 2G technology rather than invest in maintaining the older units. This is likely to be the most financially prudent solution for many users with the cost of the indoor 2G hardware approximately 50% cheaper than the cost of equivalent 1G units which are increasingly difficult and expensive to support Budgetary Cost of 2G SADIS Hardware A complete SADIS system consists of the following hardware components: antenna (normally 2.4 metre, though a 1.8 metre antenna may suffice for users located closer to wards the centre of the footprint), low noise block (LNB), cabling (between LNB and receiver), digital receive-only (DRO) receiver (e.g. Comtech EFD SDR-54A, or, Radyne Comstream DD2401), Megapac 2000 (or equivalent) penetrating or non-penetrating mount, and optional spares. One-Way System (including a 1.8 metre antenna) = ~ 6000 excluding packing, shipping and installation. One-Way System (including a 2.4 metre antenna) = ~ 7000 excluding packing, shipping and installation. Optional Spares = ~ 3500K (which includes spare receiver and megapac) Protocol Options available from SADIS 2G Data can be presented from a megapac to the users end system using a variety of different protocols. It is extremely important that the user communicates to the hardware supplier which protocol they require. Output from the megapac uses a 'spoofed' protocol. In other words the megapac mimics a standard international protocolsuch as TCP/IP or X.25. 'Spoofing' is required because data transmission over the service is one-way, and both X.25 and WMO TCP/IP sockets require two-way data traffic. The return signal from the user o r client cannot be communicated to the host. Data from the 2G service can be presented to the user either as TCP/IP UDP multicast (preferred solution), 'spoofed' WMO TCP/IP sockets, or 'spoofed' X.25 PVCs (presentation similar to output from SADIS 1G receiver). For users selecting TCP/IP, we strongly recommend the use of UDP multicast as opposed to WMO TCP/IP sockets. It is believed that the use of UDP multicast is far simpler to administer and facilitate change to downstream systems. The receiver provided by BURS Ltd. has a standard configuration to support the 'spoofed' WMO TCP/IP sockets protocol. The use of other output protocols may be possible, and the user is advised to discuss this option with the supplier. The SADIS provider has produced some hardware procurement guidelines to assist users in the purchase of their 2G hardware. These guidelines are available for review from URL 18

19 1.3.3 Suppliers of SADIS 2G Hardware Competition exists in the market for provision of SADIS 2G receiving hardware. Currently two suppliers are recommended. In the event of either of these companies withdrawing from the market additional companies could be found as a result of the non-proprietary nature of the SADIS 2G reception hardware. Two suppliers are currently recommended that can provide a range of services. These are summarised below. L-Teq Ltd. Services provided: Provision of antennae, LNBs, 2G compatible receivers*, configured MegaPAC units On-site installation and training Support and maintenance Hardware repair General satellite communications provision and troubleshooting * The 2G compatible receivers can be provided as standalone units, or incorporated into a single unit along with a MegaPAC. Contact details: Mr Russell Rixon L-Teq Ltd. Lapwing 440, Frimley Business Park, Frimley, Surrey, GU16 7SZ, UK. Telephone: +44 (0) Fax: +44 (0) Web: Satelcom Ltd. Services provided: Provision of antennae, LNBs, 2G compatible receivers*, configured MegaPAC units On-site installation and training Support and maintenance Hardware repair Network provision * The 2G compatible receivers can be provided as a standalone system, or incorporated into a single unit, along with a configured MegaPAC. Either option can be supplied as a 'one box solution' which includes pre - delivery installation and configuration in a hardened flight case which is suitable for demanding conditions. Sales contact details: Mr Andrew Hughes Satelcom Ltd. Satelcom House, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7PW, UK Telephone: +44 (0)

20 Fax: +44 (0) Web: Immediately prior to the completion of this Management Report WAFC London was informed by BURS Ltd. that they no longer wished to be included on the list of recommended suppliers, hence they have been removed. SADIS 2G hardware can also be purchased through a third party such as one of the workstation suppliers (see Annex 4). Many SADIS users will find this the most straightforward migration approach to adopt because their supplier of workstation software can verify prior to purchase compatibility between an existing workstation configuration and the output from the new SADIS 2G hardware. ANNEX 1 GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS 20

21 AIREP BUFR CAA FROST GRIB Air report Binary Universal Format for the Representation of Meteorological Data. Civil Aviation Authority - UK Met. Authority New enhanced Met Office message switch Gridded binary (code) ISCS International Satellite Communication System (US satellite broadcasts similar to SADIS covering North and South America, the Caribbean and Central America, the Pacific and Eastern Asia). METAR NATS OPMET PIRG Routine aviation weather report in code form National Air Traffic Services Operational meteorological (information or data). ICAO planning and implementation regional group. SADIS GATEWAY The United Kingdom message-handling system which receives data, from the Aeronautical Fixed Service, for transmission on SADIS. SIGMET SIGWX Information of specified en route weather phenomena that may affect the safety of aircraft operations. Significant weather. T.4 Coded digital facsimile transmission format. TAF Terminal Aerodrome Forecast. Aerodrome forecast in code form. TROPICS Transmission and reception of observational and product information by computer-based switching (message switching equipment). WAFS World Area Forecast System. Annex 2 - WAFC Backup Procedures 21

22 INTRODUCTION A WAFC will provide any or all of the WAFS services as needed when the interruption of the operation of the other WAFC occurs. WAFC London and WAFC Washington have studied a number of potential service interruption and outage scenarios, reviewed the current communication links between the two WAFCs, and agreed upon the appropriate responses to each interruption in service. 1. INTERRUPTIONS IN NUMERICAL WEATHER PREDICTION (NWP) OR SIGNIFICANT WEATHER (SIGWX) FORECAST PRODUCTION a. WAFC London interruptions i. A global grid point NWP model runs in Exeter. The output from this NWP model forms the basis for the wind and temperature forecasts in the Gridded Binary (GRIB) code form. Two largely identical supercomputers are housed in separate computer halls, allowing the model to run on either machine. Therefore, routine or non-routine maintenance can be performed on one of the supercomputers without affecting the operational capability of WAFC London. In the rare event that the model cannot be run on either supercomputer, the following course of action would be taken. When the first model run is delayed significantly or is not available, a decision will be made to use the output from the previous model run incremented forwards by six hours. In the event that the output from a second consecutive run is unavailable, WAFC London would use the output from the last good run, incremented forwards by twelve hours. If subsequent model runs fail then a decision will be taken to either issue data from the last good run incremented forwards by the appropriate number of hours, or issue WAFC Washington derived GRIB data in a format that is acceptable to end users that routinely receive the WAFC London product. If the interruption affects the ability of WAFC London to produce WAFS SIGWX products WAFC Washington may be notified to begin the production of the backup WAFS SIGWX forecasts. These forecasts along with other WAFS data are then sent to the WAFC London message -switching centre for normal distribution. ii. In the event of a failure at the primary operational workstation, the forecaster would use one of the backup workstations located on the forecast floor, or in the backup operations centre. If WAFC London is affected by a massive failure, paragraph 5 describes the action under Total outage of a WAFC. b. WAFC Washington interruptions i. A global spectral model runs at the National Centres for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and produces the WAFC Washington NWP output. This forms the basis for the wind and temperature forecasts in the GRIB code form. NCEP maintains the ability to run the global model on redundant systems in the case of a failure of the primary system. If the NWP is significantly delayed or missing due to the failure of the primary or secondary computer systems, a decision is made to use the NWP data routinely received from WAFC London at the National Weather Service Telecommunications Gateway (NWSTG), incremented by the appropriate number of hours, to produce the WAFS forecasts. 22

23 ii. If the primary operational workstation fails, the forecaster would use a backup workstation located on the forecast floor. If the WAFC Washington SIGWX production centre is out, WAFC London is called on to produce all of the WAFC Washington SIGWX forecasts. These forecasts are then switched back to the NWSTG with the routine WAFC London SIGWX forecasts for dissemination via the International Satellite Communication System (ISCS). If WAFC Washington is affected by a massive failure, paragraph 5 describes the action under Total outage of a WAFC. 2. INTERRUPTIONS IN MESSAGE SWITCHING a. WAFC London interruptions i. Two message switches exist at WAFC London. In the rare event of a failure at the primary switch, the backup switch would be used to send and receive data. The backup message switch can be immediately connected to the Washington and Toulouse WMO global telecommunication system (GTS) routes, and is permanently connected to the satellite distribution system for information relating to air navigation (SADIS).. In the extremely unlikely event that WAFC London cannot connect to the GTS, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) circuit between Silver Spring and Exeter will be used to send and receive data. This circuit is a physical backup to the link that is normally in place, and is used only when a major failure occurs. b. WAFC Washington interruptions An integrated services digital network (ISDN) circuit is maintained between WAFC London and the ISCS uplink site. In the rare event that the message switch at the NWSTG is out WAFC London would be notified to begin sending WAFS products on the ISDN circuit directly to the ISCS uplink site. The ISCS satellites then broadcast these products normally. 1. INTERRUPTIONS IN SATELLITE UPLINK AND SATELLITE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS a. The operation of the satellite communications systems used to provide the SADIS and ISCS broadcasts of the WAFS data is outside the control of the two WAFCs. The reliability and availability of these services is guaranteed by the commercial operators, and not by the two WAFCs. 3. TOTAL OUTAGE OF A WAFC 23

24 a. WAFC London outage It is considered extremely unlikely that WAFC London would ever be totally out. A new state of the art infrastructure ensures that both computers can operate completely independent of each other. Separate primary and backup power supplies are furnished for each computer. The backup procedures carried out will depend on the nature of the outage. In a worst-case scenario when the primary supercomputer becomes inoperable and the WAFC Washington to WAFC London GTS link cannot be regained, the ISDN circuit described in 4.1 would be used to send and receive data from Washington. Thus, the failure of the primary supercomputer would not affect the ability of WAFC London to disseminate WAFS products on the SADIS broadcast or send them to Washington for broadcast on the ISCS. In the event of the forecast office at WAFC London becoming unserviceable, WAFC Washington may be contacted to initiate backup production of all the high-level and medium-level SIGWX forecasts routinely produced by WAFC London. It should be noted that a backup forecast office is provisioned at WAFC London in a separate wing of the building. Thus, it is considered highly unlikely that WAFC London would be totally unable to produce their WAFS SIGWX forecasts. The SIGWX forecasts would still be available for SADIS uplink from either forecast office in such a scenario assuming that either computer is available. WAFC Washington outage i. The WAFS product generation facilities are located at multiple sites. Thus it is highly unlikely that WAFC Washington would ever be completely out. The backup procedures carried out would depend on the facility affected, and have been described above. Two independent data paths exist from the message -switching centre. Thus, a cable cut would not disrupt communications to or from the switch. However, in a scenario where the Washington message switch is completely out, the distribution of products to WAFC London and to the ISCS is also severed. 4. ROUTINE AND BACKUP SIGNIFICANT WEATHER FORECASTS Table C-1summarizes the ICAO areas to be used by WAFCs Washington and London for both routine and backup SIGWX forecasts. Table C-1. Routine and backup SIGWX areas with WMO headers SWH Area Primary WAFC WMO Header A Washington PGEE07 KKCI B London PGSE06 EGRR B1 Washington PGIE07 KKCI C London PGRE06 EGRR D London PGZE06 EGRR E London PGGE06 EGRR F Washington PGGE07 KKCI 24

25 G London PGCE06 EGRR H London PGAE06 EGRR Washington PGAE07 KKCI I Washington PGBE07 KKCI J Washington PGJE07 KKCI K London PGKE06 EGRR M Washington PGDE30 KKCI SWM area Primary WAFC WMO Header NAT Washington PGNE40 KKCI EUR London PGDE15 EGRR MID London PGCE15 EGRR S ASIA London PGZE15 EGRR. 25

26 Annex 3 SADIS Operations Group Software Functionality Requirements. (Updated by SADIS provider, to be reviewed by SADISOPSG/10.) SOFTWARE FUNCTIONALITY 1. Display of OPMET data and other data types in text format Available and Compliant? Comments 2. WAFS GRIB decoder and compliant display package 3. WAFS SWH and SWM BUFR decoder and compliant display package 4. Display and ability to prompt users of the arrival of chart amendments 5. Display and ability to prompt users of the arrival of SADIS administrative messages 6. Display of tropical cyclone advisory statements 7. Display of volcanic ash advisory statements 8. Display of volcanic ash trajectory/dispersion charts 9. Display bulletin contents from the WMO header 10. Display of Special AIREPS 11. Ability to receive SADIS products via FTP from the WAFS FTP server Please refer to the accompanying notes that detail the requirements 26

27 Requirements The numbers of the notes below correspond to the numbers of the 11 items listed in the table above. For a software package to receive a "Y" as opposed to a "N" in the "Available and Compliant" column on the table, all of the functions detailed below need to be satisfied for each functionality item. For every workstation provider that is happy for their software to be tested under these criteria, it our intention is to make the information available to all existing and prospective SADIS users via the SADIS web page at URL Ability for the data to be sourced from SADIS 1G or SADIS 2G and WAFS FTP service. 1. The ability to receive and display OPMET data and other data types in text format (including TAFs, METARs, SPECIs, SIGMETs, EUR region AIRMETs and GAMETs, a nd ASHTAMs and NOTAMs related to volcanic ash). The ability for a user to display OPMET for aerodromes specified by the user. Prompt users of the arrival of a SIGMET, SPECI, ASHTAM and NOTAM related to volcanic ash. 2. The ability to receive and display GRIB data, sourced from WAFC London and WAFC Washington*. The functionality to enable a user to produce a wind-temperature chart from the GRIB data over a configurable user-specified area. Global coverage is required. The ability to produce charts spanning the International Date Line and including all of the standard ICAO areas is required. A "zooming facility" for GRIB chart areas. The ability to produce a wind-temperature chart from GRIB encoded data that is identical as far as the meteorological content is concerned and largely identical as far as other features (e.g. the position of text boxes) are concerned to a standard T4 wind and temperature chart for the same area, and meets Annex 3 requirements. The product must clearly display whether the chart is derived from the WAFC London or WAFC Washington GRIB encoded data. Automatic chart production is required, i.e. human intervention is not required to modify a chart to ensure compliancy. 3. The ability to receive and display WAFS SIGWX BUFR data, sourced from WAFC London and WAFC Washington. 27

28 The functionality to enable a user to produce a SWH and a SWM SIGWX chart from BUFR data over a configurable user-specified area. Global coverage for the SWH data is required. The ability to produce charts spanning the international date line and covering all of the standard ICAO areas is required for the SWH data. A "zooming facility" for BUFR chart areas. A de-clutter facility for tropopause heights, whereby the quantity of tropopause data plotted over an area is appropriate to the size of the area, and hence maximises the clarity of the end product. The ability to produce a SIGWX chart from BUFR encoded data that is identical as far as the meteorological content is concerned and largely identical as far as other features (e.g. the position of text boxes) are concerned to a standard T4 SIGWX chart for the same area, and meets Annex 3 requirements. The product must clear ly display whether the chart is derived from WAFC London or WAFC Washington BUFR encoded data. If the software allows the user to modify any of the plotted meteorological parameters, reference to either WAFC must be automatically removed if such modification is carried out by the end user. Automatic chart production is required, i.e. human intervention is not required to modify a chart to ensure compliancy. 4. The ability to receive, display and prompt users of the arrival of chart ame ndments. These amendments are text messages issued with the following WMO headers: FXUK65 EGRR T4 SIGWX chart amendments FXUK66 EGRR T4 Wind & Temperature Chart amendments 5. The ability to receive, display and prompt users of the arrival of SADIS administrative messages. These amendments are text messages issued with the following WMO headers: 6. NOUK10 EGRR NOUK11 EGRR NOUK12 EGRR NOUK13 EGRR NOUK31 EGGY NOBX99 EBBR 28

29 The ability to receive, display and prompt users of the arrival of tropical cyclone advisory statements. These bulletins are in text format and are of the form FK**** CCCC. 7. The ability to receive, display and prompt users of the arrival of volcanic ash advisory statements. These bulletins are in text format, and the WMO headers of those currently ava ilable for dissemination of SADIS are listed below. These bulletin headers are of the form FV**** CCCC. FVAK20 PANC FVAK21PANC FVAK22 PANC FVAK23 PANC FVAK24 PANC FVUK01 EGRR FVXX20 KWBC FVXX21 KWBC FVXX22 KWBC FVXX23 KWBC FVXX24 KWBC FVXX25 KWBC FVXX26 KWBC FVXX27 KWBC FVXX28 KWBC FVXX29 KWBC FVAF01 LFPW FVEU01 LFPW FVAW01 LFPW FVSV30 FDMS FVFE01 RJTD FVCN01 CWAO FVCN02 CWAO FVCN03 CWAO FVCN04 CWAO FVAU01 ADRM FVPS01 NZKL 8. The ability to receive and display volcanic ash trajectory and dispersion charts (VAG). These charts are in standard T4 format. The products that may be available for dissemination on SADIS have the following WMO headers: PFXB00 CWAO PFXD00 CWAO PFXG00 CWAO PFXI00 CWAO PFXB00 CWAO 29

30 PFXD00 CWAO PFXG00 CWAO PFXI00 CWAO PHBE10 KWBC PHBI10 KWBC PURG00 LFPW PVRE00 LFPW PVRD00 LFPW PUAG00 EGRR PVAG00 EGRR Additional (VAG) bulletins over and above those listed above will be broadcast on SADIS as they become available. 9. The functionality to enable a user to display the contents of a single bulletin (including all types of bulletins except GRIB and BUFR encoded bulletins) by typing in the WMO header of the bulletin. 10. The ability to receive, display and prompt users of the arrival of special AIREPS. These bulletins are in text format, and the WMO headers of the bulletins currently available for dissemination on SADIS are listed below. The bulletins are of the form UA**** XXXX UANT90 EGRR UAUK90 EGRR 11. The ability to receive all of the operational SADIS data (detailed in items 1-10 above) via FTP over the Internet from the WAFS FTP server, and to display it using the same interface. In addition, the ability to receive and display PNG (portable network graphics) versions of the SIGWX charts from the WAFS FTP server. *It should be noted that there are some subtle differences between London and Washington GRIB data. Washington GRIB would only be transmitted over SADIS if there was a major problem with the production of London GRIB. It would only have the purpose of forming a backup to the London GRIB in the event of problems with disseminating the former. 30

31 Annex 4 List of Commercial Suppliers of WAFS Visualisation Software SADIS data processing and display suppliers Supplier ALMOS Systems Mr F Geeraerts Landzichtweg 70 P O Box AK Culemborg The Netherlands Corobor Mr M Bourgues 134 rue Julian Grimau Vitry sur Seine France GST/3SI Mr. Paul Heppner Lincoln Drive West, Suite 201 Marlton, NJ USA Or, Mr. Gene Schaffer 7855 Walker Drive, Suite 200 Greenbelt, MD USA Info - Electronic Systems Inc Mr H P S Ahluwalia 1755 St Regis Suite 100 Dollard -de-ormeaux (Montreal) Quebec Canada H9B 2M9 Institute of Radar Meteorology (IRAM) Dr. T Bazlova 15, p. Voejkovo, Product METWORX Tel Fax MESSIR - SADIS Tel Fax Contact sales METLAB Tel Fax Tel Fax HI - WIPS Tel Fax MeteoExpert/MeteoConsultant Applications Tel (81370) Fax (81370)

32 Vsevolozhskij rajon, Leningradskay oblast, Russia, MapMaker Group Ltd. Mr. Alexey Solomakhov B. Predtechensky per. 11, Moscow Russia, Meteo France International (MFI) Mr D Paris Park Avenue 9 rue Michel Labrousse, Toulouse France Netsys UK Ltd Mr C Moffat 74 Dickerage Road Kingston on Thames Surrey KT1 3SS United Kingdom iram@peterlink.ru GIS Meteo Tel Fax alex@gismeteo.com WEDIS Tel Fax Vision Man Tel Fax

33 2. SADIS USAGE & DATA VOLUMES 2.1 Status of Operational Systems The growth in the number of operational VSATs has been static during the past 12 months. However approval for an additional three users in the European region has been received from their State Meteorological Authorities. Two of these new users have chosen to access their data via the WAFS FTP service only and do not have the intention of purchasing a SADIS 2G VSAT. The third user is in the process of procuring a VSAT. Table 1 Number of access approved units by ICAO Region March 2005 ICAO Area Access Approved 04/2005 EUR 59 MID 19 AFI 46 ASIA 21 TOTAL 145 Table 2 Number of access approved units by ICAO Region June 2004 ICAO Area Access Approved 06/2004 EUR 56 MID 19 AFI 46 ASIA 21 TOTAL 142 In excess of 100 accounts have been established on the WAFS FTP server for SADIS and ISCS users. Even though the majority of these users are accessing the WAFS FTP server as a secondary source of data, a small and increasing number of users are believed to be accessing data from the server as their primary, and perhaps only source of data. 2.2 Hub Infrastructure During the past 12 months, the SADIS 1G hub infrastructure has proved consistently stable, and no remedial action has been necessary. As a result no changes have been made to the SADIS infrastructure at either Exeter or Whitehill. Action has now been taken at Exeter and Whitehill to burn the MEGAPAC operating systems into EPROMS which provides an added precaution against battery failure. Engineering work has been carried out at both Exeter and Whitehill to implement an operationally resilient infrastructure used to provide the SADIS 2G service. The infrastructure utilises the MEGAPAC technology which has proved so successful throughout the history of the SADIS 1G programme. Annex 1 to this chapter includes a diagram highlighting the topology of the SADIS 2G service. Part of the system monitoring and customer service process is to monitor the SADIS 2G data throughput. This is achieved by using a Corobor 'Comparitor' system. This specially configured workstation enables

34 the helpdesk operator to compare the outbound data stream with the data received via the SADIS antenna. A bulletin by bulletin comparison can be carried out to identify whether any data is lost through transmission. This facility enables the helpdesk to determine whether data re-sends are appropriate or not. 2.3 Data Rates and Broadcast Content Data Rates The aggregate data throughput of 38.4Kbps has been maintained in accordance with the technical specification. The SADIS system is in theory capable of running at 64Kbps with an aggregate data throughput minus system overheads of around speeds 50 to 52Kbps. However following the problems encountered by a number of users in 1999 with data rates of this speed, bandwidth control has been maintained on all SADIS 1G PVC's. Bandwidth control has been maintained throughout the past 12 months to limit the throughput of data to the following continuous rates: GRIB T4 OPMET 19.2Kbps 19.2Kbps 9.6Kbps. This has satisfactorily resolved the problems encountered during , which related to the software contained within the EPROMS being unable to handle the input data fast enough. There is no expectation that this bandwidth control will be withdrawn or reduced in the future. Bandwidth control is not applied on the new SADIS 2G broadcast which is operating at an aggregate throughput rate of 64Kbps Content of Broadcast GRIB GRIB bulletins are broadcast four times per day and are consistent with the WMO 306 standard for GRIB1. Repeat broadcasts are not routinely carried out. TABLE 2.1 Average daily data volume of forecast fields in GRIB code 34

35 Bulletins GRIB1 (Mbytes) T T T T T T TOTAL The WMO headers of a complete set of WAFS GRIB data are listed below: H(T,U,V)(I-P)(B-G)(85,70,60,50,40,30,25,20,15,10) EGRR HR(I-P)(B-G)(85,70,60,50) EGRR HH(I-P)(B-G)(96,97) EGRR HH (I/J/K/L/M/N/O/P)(B/C/D/E/F/G)(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) EGRR HT(I-P)(B-G)97 EGRR H(U,V)(I-P)(B-G)96 EGRR T = temperature parameter U = U wind vector component V= V wind vector component R = R relative humidity parameter H = H geo-potential height parameter (I-P) = letters corresponding to different geographical areas (B-G) = validity periods (B=T+6, C=T+12, D=T+18, E=T+24, F=T+30, G=T+36) Total number of bulletins per model run is model runs per day (0000, 0600, 1200 and 1800 UTC). This equates to approximately 10.5MB of data per model run, or 42MB of GRIB data per day. Also see Annex 5 for a complete representation of the WAFS GRIB bulletin schedule T.4 CHARTS The routine chart information promulgated via SADIS (in T.4 facsimile format) consists of SIGWX and wind/temperature charts. The only SIGWX charts in T.4 format which are transmitted via SADIS are WAFS charts produced by WAFC London and WAFC Washington. Following the implementation of the final phase of WAFS it is the expectation that the T4 wind & temperature charts will cease from 1 July All SADIS recipients need to be fully aware of the implications of this action upon their operations, and to ensure that they have sufficient software and experience to be able to utilise the GRIB encoded equivalent products. At the WAFSOPSG/2 meeting it was agreed that an extension to the T4 WAFS SIGWX charts was required. It was agreed that these products would continue to be made 35

36 available on the SADIS broadcasts until 30 November This delay in the cessation of the T4 SIGWX is considered to be necessary to ensure that users have sufficient time to migrate over to the BUFR encoded SIGWX data. 64 T.4 SIGWX charts are broadcast every day (approx. 80KB per chart; approx. 5MB total), with 40 charts originating from WAFC London (28 SWH charts, and 12 SWM charts), 24 SWH from WAFC Washington (covering areas: A, F, H, I, J and M). The new WAFC Washington chart covering the North Atlantic (area H) was added to the broadcast during early December Some 364 T.4 wind and temperature charts are broadcast every day, which amounts to approximately 27MB of data (approx. 74KB per chart). Please see Annex 6 for a detailed listing of the broadcast schedule, and note that these charts will be removed from the SADIS broadcast as of 1 July It is important to note that T.4 wind and temperature charts are NOT produced from the 0600 and 1800 UTC model data. This data is only produced in GRIB format - see section GRIB data, above. Additional non-routine T.4 products on the broadcast include Volcanic Ash Trajectory and Dispersion charts from VAACs Montreal, Washington and Toulouse. Unfortunately the equivalent charts produced by the other VAACs are not available for SADIS transmission because the products are either not received by the Met Office or are in a partitioned format which the Met Office message switch cannot accommodate. However action is being taken to secure access to VAG products produced by many of the other VAACs. These products are currently routed to WAFC London via the WMO GTS as a result of the lack of a suitable AFS network. The distribution schedule for the T.4 SIGWX chart is given below: SIGWX charts based on 0000 UTC model run - T+24 issued between 10:00 and 11:00 (Nominal issue time is 10:30) SIGWX charts based on 0600 UTC model run - T+24 issued between 16:00 and 17:00 (Nominal issue time is 16:30) SIGWX charts based on 1200 UTC model run - T+24 issued between 22:00 and 23:00 (Nominal issue time is 22:30) SIGWX charts based on 1800 UTC model run - T+24 issued between 04:00 and 05:00 (Nominal issue time is 04:30) The complete broadcast schedule, including those produced by WAFC Washington, is listed below. TABLE 2.2 WAFS SIGWX Chart (T.4) Distribution Schedule on SADIS 36

37 SWH Area A B C D E F G H I J K M Originating WAFC Routine: Washington Backup: London Routine: London Backup: Washington Routine: London Backup: Washington Routine: London Backup: Washington Routine: London Backup: Washington Routine: Washington Backup: London Routine: London Backup: Washington Routine: London Routine: Washington Routine: Washington Backup: London Routine: Washington Backup: London Routine: London Backup: Washington Routine: Washington Backup:London WMO Header PGEE07 KKCI PGSE06 EGRR PGRE06 EGRR PGZE06 EGRR PGGE06 EGRR PGGE07 KKCI PGCE06 EGRR PGAE06 EGRR PGAE07 KKCI PGBE07 KKCI PGJE07 KKCI PGKE06 EGRR PGDE30 KKCI The table below summarises the SWM WAFS charts produced by both WAFCs, and the WMO headers assigned to these products. SWM Area Originating WAFC Routine: London EURO Backup: Washington Routine: London MID Backup: Washington Routine: London ASIA SOUTH Backup: Washington WMO Header PGDE15 EGRR PGCE15 EGRR PGZE15 EGRR The T.4 chart broadcast can be summarised as follows: TABLE 2.3 Average daily volumes of chart data. 37

38 T.4 Charts Data Volumes (Mbytes) Number generated at WAFC London SIGWX Wind & Temperature Number generated at WAFC Washington SIGWX Total broadcast 32.1 MB Please note that occasional T.4 volcanic ash dispersion and trajectory charts from VAACs Montreal, Washington and Toulouse are sent in addition to the products listed above in table WAFS SIGWX Charts in PNG format Even though the T4 SIGWX charts will continue to be provided on the SADIS broadcasts until 30 November 2006, it is the expectation that they will cease thereafter. However WAFC London does have concerns that SIGWX in the BUFR format may not be the most effective way for some States to receive their SIGWX information. From the feedback that WAFC London has gained during the past few years it is believed that there will continue to be a demand for SIGWX charts in a pre-prepared chart format, albeit using a more up to date version. WAFC London believes that the PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format is the most suitable in this regard being compatible with the vast majority of standard PC visualisation packages and web browsers, and free of patents. To gauge the usefulness of these products WAFC London is in the process of producing PNG versions of its SWH and SWM charts. These will become available from the WAFS FTP service shortly under a new directory called SIGWX_PNG. These products could be added to the SADIS satellite broadcasts subject to the agreement of the SADIS Operations Group. WAFC London would value feedback from any users accessing these new products OPMET An average daily OPMET broadcast is about 12.5 Mbytes of data, consisting of approximately messages. By ICAO region, the breakdown for 2005 is shown in the following table. The table indicates the number of bulletins transmitted from each ICAO region to the SADIS provider for SADIS uplink, plus the number of regional bulletin compilations. For example, a bulletin compiled in the UK (region EUR) which contains reports from South America (region SAM) will be placed in the table under EUR. TABLE 2.4 Example of daily OPMET bulletins by source March

39 AFI ASIA CAR EUR MID NAM NAT PAC SAM Total FA FC FK FT FV NO SA SP WA WS WC WV Total Note: Data for this table is generated from a snapshot of data captured on one single day. Data included in the strategic assessment tables is generated from an analysis of data captured over a month. Example of daily OPMET bulletins by source March 2004 AFI ASIA CAR EUR MID NAM NAT PAC SAM Total FA FC FK FT FV NO SA SP WA WS WC WV Total Unscheduled Data on the SADIS Broadcast Since the introduction of the SADIS Gateway it has been possible to produce more detailed information on the unscheduled OPMET data transmitted on SADIS. In Annex 6 a list of all the distinct unscheduled headers (TTAAii CCCC) received during the period is presented. In Annex 7 graphs have been included which show the daily distribution of messages of each data type during the period specified above. 39

40 TROPICAL CYCLONE ADVISORY MESSAGES Tropical cyclone advisory messages are broadcast on SADIS with headers of format FK**** CCCC. During the period April to September 2004 tropical cyclone advisories from TCAC TCAC Honolulu (PHFO), TCAC Darwin (ADRM), TCAC Miami (KNHC), TCAC La Réunion (FMEE), and TCAC Fiji (NFFN) and TCAC Tokyo (RJTD) were broadcast over SADIS. FK List Expr1 FKAU03 ADRM FKIO20 FMEE FKNT21 KNHC FKNT22 KNHC FKNT23 KNHC FKNT24 KNHC FKNT25 KNHC FKPA21 PHFO FKPA22 PHFO FKPA23 PHFO FKPQ30 RJTD FKPQ31 RJTD FKPQ32 RJTD FKPS01 NFFN FKPZ21 KNHC FKPZ22 KNHC FKPZ23 KNHC FKPZ24 KNHC FKPZ25 KNHC AIRMETs and GAMETs AIRMETs are GAMETs from the European region are broadcast routinely on the broadcast. These new products are distributed on PVC2, alongside all of the other OPMET data. AIRMETs have a bulletin header of format WA**** CCCC. GAMETs have a bulletin header of format FA**** CCCC. A list of the AIRMET and GAMET products currently available via SADIS is available in Annex 2 and Annex 3. 40

41 BUFR The dissemination of BUFR encoded high-level SIGWX (SWH) information produced by WAFC London has continued throughout the period of this Management Report. This data has been considered an operational product since June It is anticipated that the dissemination of BUFR encoded medium-level SIGWX (SWM) information produced by WAFC London will commence in mid-april Additional bulletins are required to include the new SWM information. It should be noted that all of the workstation manufacturers have developed SWH BUFR visualisation software. Some refinements to some of the packages are still necessary before they meet the requirements of the SADIS Operations Group software criteria. However five of these packages can now provide products to a high standard. A further round of detailed evaluations of these packages is planned during April and May The results from these evaluations will be placed on the SADIS web site at URL To assist the workstation companies in the construction of compliant visualisation software a new version of the document titled "Representing WAFS Significant Weather (SIGWX) Data in BUFR" has been prepared. This document is now available (Version 2.5) from the ICAO WAFS Operations Group web site at URL and is reproduced in Annex 9 to this chapter of the Management Report. The broadcast schedule and headers assigned to the SWH BUFR are listed below. BUFR charts based on 0000 UTC model run - T+24 issued between 10:00 and 11:00 (Nominal issue time is 10:30) BUFR charts based on 0600 UTC model run - T+24 issued between 16:00 and 17:00 (Nominal issue time is 16:30) BUFR charts based on 1200 UTC model run - T+24 issued between 22:00 and 23:00 (Nominal issue time is 22:30) BUFR charts based on 1800 UTC model run - T+24 issued between 04:00 and 05:00 (Nominal issue time is 04:30) 41

42 BUFR FEATURE COMMON NAME WMO HEADER used by WAFC London WMO HEADER used by WAFC Washington SWH Jet-streams JETS JUWE96 EGRR JUWE96 KKCI SWH Clear Air Turbulence (C.A.T.) CAT JUCE00 EGRR JUCE00 KKCI SWH Embedded Cumulo-nimbus CLOUD JUBE99 EGRR JUBE99 KKCI SWH Tropopause height TROP JUTE97 EGRR JUTE97 KKCI SWH Frontal Systems FRONTS JUFE00 EGRR JUFE00 KKCI SWM and SWH Tropical Cyclone, V_T_S JUVE00 EGRR JUVE00 KKCI Sandstorms & Volcanoes SWM Tropopause height M-TROP JUOE00 EGRR JUOE00 KKCI SWM jet-streams M-JETS JUTE00 EGRR JUTE00 KKCI SWM fronts M-FRONTS JUJE00 EGRR JUJE00 KKCI SWM cloud, in-cloud icing and M-CLOUD JUNE00 EGRR JUNE00 KKCI turbulence SWM Clear Air Turbulence (C.A.T.) M-CAT JUME00 EGRR JUME00 KKCI The results from the SADIS software reviews do not include an assessment of the ability of the software to correctly display either jet depth information or BUFR encoded SWM data. These two visualisation requirements will be evaluated in a second review scheduled during April and May New Products and Services A small number of changes to the broadcast schedule have taken place during the past 12 months. Of perhaps most importance is the introduction of an operational SADIS 2G service on 12 November These have been covered in detail in section above, and are summarised below. TABLE 2.7 New Product(s) Additional OPMET data Introduction of operational SADIS 2G service Introduction of jet depth information on SWM and SWH charts, and in BUFR format. BUFR encoded SWM data from WAFC London Introduction of SWM NAT T4 chart on SADIS 1G and 2G. Availability on WAFS FTP services pending. Introduction of PNG versions of WAFC London SWH and SWM on WAFS FTP server Implementation Date(s) On-going, as available to the SADIS Gateway 12 November November 2005 Scheduled for 6 April February 2005 Scheduled for mid-april

43 Annex 1 - SADIS 2G Infrastructure 43

44 Annex 2 - Data Type by Average Percentage Volume - March 2005 SADIS Data Volume by Type OPMET 1% 31% 6% 1% 14% GRIB T.4 Wind & Temperature Charts T.4 SIGWX Charts 47% BUFR Misc. Products Average Daily Broadcast Schedule: OPMET Data (incl. AIRMETs and GAMETs) WAFS GRIB Data WAFS T.4 Wind and Temperature Charts WAFS T.4 SIGWX Charts BUFR encoded SWH and SWM from WAFC London Other Products (e.g. T.4 volcanic ash dispersion charts) 12.5MB 42MB 27MB 5MB <1MB <1MB ~ 87 MB 44

45 - Annex 3 - EUR region GAMETs available via SADIS State Bulletin CCCC Description Issue time Validity Period AUSTRIA FAOS41 LOWM WIEN FIR Winter: / / /1900 Summer: / / /2000 BELGIUM No products CYPRUS No products CZECH REP FACZ41 LKPR PRAHA FIR DENMARK No products ESTONIA No products FINLAND No products FRANCE No products GERMANY FADL41 EDZH GAMET 6 h Forecast for Bremen FIR GERMANY FADL41 EDZE GAMET 6 h Forecast for Duesseldorf FIR GERMANY FADL41 EDZB GAMET 6 h Forecast for Berlin FIR GERMANY FADL41 EDZF GAMET 6 h Forecast for Frankfurt FIR / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

46 GERMANY FADL41 EDZM GAMET 6 h Forecast for Munich FIR HUNGARY FAHU41 LHBM BUDAPEST FIR IRELAND No products ITALY No products LATVIA FALV10 EVRA EVRR FIR / / / / / / / / / / /2100 LITHUANIA No products MACEDONIA No products MALTA No products MOLDOVA FARM41 LUKK CHISINAU FIR Not observed NETHERLANDS No products NORWAY No products PORTUGAL No products RUMANIA SLOVAKIA FASQ41 LZIB BRATISLAVA FIR Apr-Oct / / /2100 Nov-Mar / /1700 SLOVENIA SPAIN FAEW40 LEMM LECM North / / / /

47 SPAIN FAEW41 LEMM LECM South SPAIN FAEW42 LEMM LECB SWEDEN No products 0900/ / / / / / / /1500 SWITZERLAND FASW41 LSSW LSAS Not Observed SWEDEN No products UK FAUK10 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST UK SIGNIFICANT WEATHER /1200 UK FAUK11 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST UK SIGNIFICANT WEATHER UK FAUK12 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST UK SIGNIFICANT WEATHER / /2400 UK FAUK13 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST FOR UK /0600 UK FAUK18 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST UK UPDATE AND OUTLOOK UK FAUK19 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST UK UPDATE AND OUTLOOK UK FAUK20 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST UK UPDATE AND OUTLOOK UK FAUK21 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST UK UPDATE AND OUTLOOK / / / /0300 UK FAUK30 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SW ENGLAND /1700 UK FAUK31 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SW ENGLAND /2100 UK FAUK32 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SW ENGLAND /2100 UK FAUK34 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SE ENGLAND /1700 UK FAUK35 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SE ENGLAND /2100 UK FAUK36 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SE ENGLAND /2100 UK FAUK38 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST CROSS CHANNEL /

48 UK FAUK39 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST CROSS /1700 CHANNEL UK FAUK44 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SOUTHERN /1300 REGION UK FAUK45 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SOUTHERN /1900 REGION UK FAUK46 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SOUTHERN /0100 REGION UK FAUK47 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SOUTHERN /0700 REGION UK FAUK50 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST CENTRAL /1700 ENGLAND UK FAUK51 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST CENTRAL /2100 ENGLAND UK FAUK52 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST CENTRAL /0100 ENGLAND UK FAUK54 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST NORTHERN /1300 REGION UK FAUK55 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST NORTHERN /1900 REGION UK FAUK56 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST NORTHERN /0100 REGION UK FAUK57 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST NORTHERN /0700 REGION UK FAUK70 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SCOTTISH /1300 REGION UK FAUK71 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SCOTTISH /1900 REGION UK FAUK72 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SCOTTISH /0100 REGION UK FAUK73 EGRR AIRMET AREA FORECAST SCOTTISH /0700 REGION UKRAINE FAUR31 UKBB KIYV FIR / /1800 UKRAINE FAUR32 UKLL LVIV FIR / /1800 UKRAINE FAUR33 UKOO ODESA FIR / /

49 UKRAINE FAUR34 UKFF SIMFEROPOL FIR UKRAINE FAUR35 UKHH KHARKIV FIR / / / /

50 Annex 4 EUR Region AIRMETs available via SADIS State Bulletin CCCC FIR Description ALBANIA No products AUSTRIA WAOS41 LOWM WIEN FIR AIRMET BELGIUM WABX31 EBBR BRUSSELS FIR AIRMET CYPRUS No products CZECH REP WACZ41 LKPR PRAHA FIR DENMARK No products ESTONIA No products FINLAND No products FRANCE No products GERMANY WADL41 EDZH Bremen FIR AIRMET GERMANY WADL41 EDZE Duesseldorf FIR AIRMET GERMANY WADL41 EDZB Berlin FIR AIRMET GERMANY WADL41 EDZF Frankfurt FIR AIRMET GERMANY WADL41 EDZM Munich FIR AIRMET HUNGARY WAHU41 LHBM BUDAPEST FIR IRELAND No products ITALY No products LATVIA LITHUANIA WALT31 EYVI MACEDONIA No products MALTA No products MOLDOVA WARM41 LUKK CHISINAU FIR Not observed NETHERLANDS WANL31 EHDB NORWAY PORTUGAL No products RUMANIA No products SLOVAKIA WASQ41 LZIB BRATISLAVA FIR SLOVENIA WALJ31 LJLJ LJUBLJANA FIR SPAIN WAEW40 LEMM LECM North SPAIN WAEW41 LEMM LECM South SPAIN WAEW42 LEMM LECB SWEDEN No products 50

51 SWITZERLAND WASW41 LSSW LSAS AIRMET Not observed TURKEY WATU31 LTAC TURKEY WATU31 LTBA UK No products UKRAINE WAUR31 UKMS KIYV FIR UKRAINE WAUR32 UKMS LVIV FIR UKRAINE WAUR34 UKMS SIMFEROPOL FIR UKRAINE WAUR35 UKMS KHARKIV FIR. 51

52 Annex 5 WAFS GRIB Distribution Schedule Period AHLs T+06 HH(I-P)B(96) HH(I-P)B(97) HH(I/J/K/L/M/N/O/P)B(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) EGRR HR(I-P)B(85,70,60,50) HT(I-P)B(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HT(I-P)B(97) HU(I-P)B(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HU(I-P)B(96) HV(I-P)B(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HV(I-P)B(96) No. of Bulletins 392 T+12 HH(I-P)C(96) HH(I-P)C(97) HH(I/J/K/L/M/N/O/P)C(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) EGRR HR(I-P)C(85,70,60,50) HT(I-P)C(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HT(I-P)C(97) HU(I-P)C(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HU(I-P)C(96) HV(I-P)C(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HV(I-P)C(96) No. of Bulletins 392 T+18 HH(I-P)D(96) HH(I-P)D(97) HH(I/J/K/L/M/N/O/P)D(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) EGRR HR(I-P)D(85,70,60,50) HT(I-P)D(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HT(I-P)D(97) HU(I-P)D(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HU(I-P)D(96) HV(I-P)D(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HV(I-P)D(96) No. of Bulletins 392 T+24 HH(I-P)E(96) HH(I-P)E(97) HH(I/J/K/L/M/N/O/P)E(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) EGRR HR(I-P)E(85,70,60,50) HT(I-P)E(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HT(I-P)E(97) HU(I-P)E(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HU(I-P)E(96) HV(I-P)E(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HV(I-P)E(96) No. of Bulletins

53 T+30 HH(I-P)F(96) HH(I-P)F(97) HH(I/J/K/L/M/N/O/P)F(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) EGRR HR(I-P)F(85,70,60,50) HT(I-P)F(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10 HT(I-P)F(97) HU(I-P)F(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HU(I-P)F(96) HV(I-P)F(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HV(I-P)F(96) No. of Bulletins 392 T+36 HH(I-P)G(96) HH(I-P)G(97) HH(I/J/K/L/M/N/O/P)G(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) EGRR HR(I-P)G(85,70,60,50) HT(I-P)G(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HT(I-P)G(97) HU(I-P)G(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HU(I-P)G(96) HV(I-P)G(85/70/60/50/40/30/25/20/15/10) HV(I-P)G(96) No. of Bulletins 392 Note: The T+06 and T+36 time steps are broadcast at around 0335/0935/1535/2135 ending around 0430/1030/1630/2230. Total number of bulletins 2352 for all WAFS GRIB. Please note that GRIB bulletins are NOT routinely repeated on the broadcast. 53

54 Annex 6 WAFS Wind and Temperature Chart (T.4) Schedule Note: These products will be removed from the SADIS broadcast on 1 July Forecast upper air WAFS charts for SADIS Regional areas Area of coverage code (ANP) (Chart projection) Validity Times T+18/T+24 Flight levels Abbreviated Header TTAAii T1T2A1 A2 ii North Atlantic NAT H (Polar Stereographic) 06,12,18, P W A D/E 85 EGRR P W A D/E 70 EGRR P W A D/E 50 EGRR P W A D/E 40 EGRR P W A D/E 30 EGRR P W A D/E 25 EGRR P W A D/E 20 EGRR P W A D/E 15 EGRR P W A D/E 10 EGRR P W A D/E 07 EGRR Europe-Asia MID H (Polar Stereographic) 06,12,18, P W C D/E 85 P W C D/E 70 P W C D/E 50 P W C D/E 40 P W C D/E 30 P W C D/E 25 P W C D/E 20 P W C D/E 15 P W C D/E 10 EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR Europe-Africa EURAFI C (Mercator) 06, 12, 18, P W R D/E 85 P W R D/E 70 P W R D/E 50 P W R D/E 40 P W R D/E 30 P W R D/E 25 P W R D/E 20 P W R D/E 15 P W R D/E 10 EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR Europe-South America EURSAM B (Tilted Mercator) 06, 12, 18, P W D D/E 85 P W D D/E 70 P W D D/E 50 P W D D/E 40 P W D D/E 30 P W D D/E 25 P W D D/E 20 P W D D/E 15 P W D D/E 10 EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR Europe-South America EURSAM B1 (Tilted Mercator) 06, 12, 18, P W E D/E 85 P W E D/E 70 P W E D/E 50 P W E D/E 40 P W E D/E 30 P W E D/E 25 P W E D/E 20 P W E D/E 15 P W E D/E 10 EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR Indian Ocean INDOC E (Mercator) 06, 12, 18, P W G D/E 85 EGRR P W G D/E 70 EGRR 54

55 P W G D/E 50 EGRR P W G D/E 40 EGRR P W G D/E 30 EGRR P W G D/E 25 EGRR P W G D/E 20 EGRR P W G D/E 15 EGRR P W G D/E 10 EGRR Asia ASIA D (Mercator) 06, 12, 18, P W Z D/E 85 P W Z D/E 70 P W Z D/E 50 P W Z D/E 40 P W Z D/E 30 P W Z D/E 25 P W Z D/E 20 P W Z D/E 15 P W Z D/E 10 EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR Pacific ocean PACIF I (Polar Stereographic) 06, 12, 18, P W Y D/E 85 P W Y D/E 70 P W Y D/E 50 P W Y D/E 40 P W Y D/E 30 P W Y D/E 25 P W Y D/E 20 P W Y D/E 15 P W Y D/E 10 EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR European Area EUR EUR Chart 06, 12, 18, P W B D/E 85 P W B D/E 70 P W B D/E 50 P W B D/E 40 P W B D/E 30 P W B D/E 25 P W B D/E 20 P W B D/E 15 P W B D/E 10 EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR North and South America NAMSAM A (Mercator) 06, 12, 18, P W N D/E 85 P W N D/E 70 P W N D/E 50 P W N D/E 40 P W N D/E 30 P W N D/E 25 P W N D/E 20 P W N D/E 15 P W N D/E 10 EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR EGRR 55

56 Annex 7 - List of Unscheduled OPMET Bulletin Headers Transmitted on SADIS Tropical Cyclone Advisories FKAU01 ADRM FKAU03 ADRM FKAU05 ADRM FKIO20 FMEE FKNT21 KNHC FKNT22 KNHC FKNT23 KNHC FKNT24 KNHC FKNT25 KNHC FKPA21 PHFO FKPA22 PHFO FKPA23 PHFO FKPQ30 RJTD FKPQ31 RJTD FKPQ32 RJTD FKPS01 NFFN FKPZ21 KNHC FKPZ22 KNHC FKPZ23 KNHC FKPZ24 KNHC FKPZ25 KNHC Volcanic Ash Advisories FVAF01 LFPW FVAK20 PANC FVAU01 ADRM FVAU02 ADRM FVAU03 ADRM FVAU04 ADRM FVAW01 LFPW FVCN01 CWAO FVEU01 LFPW FVFE01 RJTD FVPS01 NZKL FVUK01 EGRR FVXX20 KWBC FVXX21 KWBC FVXX22 KWBC FVXX27 KWBC 56

57 AIREPs UADL31 EDZO UADN31 EKCH UANT90 EGRR UAOS31 LOWM UARM41 LUKK UASN31 ESWI UAUK90 EGRR AIRMETs WAAW31 LOWM WABX31 EBBR WACZ41 LKPR WADL41 EDZB WADL41 EDZE WADL41 EDZF WADL41 EDZH WADL41 EDZM WAEG31 HECA WAEW40 LEMM WAEW41 LEMM WAEW42 LEMM WAHU41 LHBM WAIS31 LLBG WALJ31 LJLJ WALT31 EYVI WALV31 EVRA WAMS31 WMKK WANL31 EHDB WAOS41 LOWM WASQ41 LZIB WASW41 LSSW WATS31 DTTA WATU31 LTAC WATU31 LTBA WAUR31 UKMS WAUR32 UKMS WAUR34 UKMS WAUR35 UKMS 57

58 Tropical Cyclone SIGMETs WCAS31 RPLL WCAS31 VHHH WCAS31 VOMM WCAS31 WSSS WCAS31 ZGGG WCAU01 ABRF WCAU01 ADRM WCAU01 APRF WCAU31 ABRF WCAU31 APRF WCBZ01 SBBS WCCA31 MMEX WCCA31 MMID WCCA31 MMTY WCCA31 MUHA WCCA31 TTPP WCCN02 CYQX WCCU41 MUHA WCEU31 LOWM WCEU31 LPMG WCFJ01 NFFN WCIN31 VOMM WCIN90 VOMM WCIO31 FMMI WCJP31 RJAA WCJP31 RPLL WCKO31 RKSI WCMX31 MMEX WCNA31 PGUM WCNA31 PHFO WCNT31 LPMG WCOC31 APRF WCPA01 WSTP WCPA31 LOWM WCPA31 PGUM WCPA31 PHFO WCPA31 PHNL WCPA31 RPLL WCPA32 PHFO WCPH30 RPLL 58

59 WCPH31 RPLL WCPH35 RPLL WCPN31 PGUM WCPN31 PHFO WCPN31 RPLL WCPQ31 PGUM WCPQ32 PGUM WCPS21 NZKL WCPS31 NFFN WCPS31 NZKL WCPS31 PGUM WCPS31 RPLL WCSA31 SBBS WCSA31 SOCA WCSR20 WSSS WCSS20 VHHH 59

60 SIGMETs WSAG41 SABE WSAG41 SACO WSAG41 SAME WSAG41 SARE WSAJ31 UBBB WSAM20 FCBB WSAM20 FTTJ WSAO20 DRRN WSAO20 GOOY WSAU21 AMMC WSAU21 AMRF WSAU21 ASRF WSAW31 LOWM WSAZ31 LPMG WSBN31 OBBB WSBN41 OBBB WSBU31 LBSM WSBW20 VGZR WSBW31 VGZR WSBX31 EBBR WSBY31 UMMS WSBZ01 SBBR WSBZ01 SBBS WSBZ20 SBAZ WSBZ20 SBEG WSBZ21 SBRE WSBZ21 SBRF WSBZ22 SBBS WSBZ24 SBCW WSBZ41 SBBS WSBZ41 SBCW WSCH01 SCEL WSCH31 SCCI WSCH31 SCEL WSCH31 SCFA WSCH31 SCIP WSCH31 SCTE WSCI31 RCTP WSCI35 ZGGG WSCI35 ZJSY WSCN02 CWUL WSCN02 CYQX WSCN31 CWLW WSCN32 CWEG 60

61 WSCN33 CWTO WSCN33 CWUL WSCN34 CWUL WSCN34 CYQX WSCN35 CWEG WSCN35 CWLW WSCN35 CWNT WSCN36 CWEG WSCN36 CWNT WSCN36 CWUL WSCN37 CWNT WSCU41 MUHA WSCY31 LCLK WSCZ31 LKPR WSDL31 EDZB WSDL31 EDZE WSDL31 EDZF WSDL31 EDZH WSDL31 EDZM WSDL32 EDZB WSDL32 EDZF WSDL32 EDZH WSDN31 EKCH WSEE31 ALAK WSEE31 LOWM WSEE31 RUAM WSEE31 RUHB WSEE31 RUIR WSEE31 RUMS WSEE31 RUNW WSEE31 RUOM WSEE31 UAAA WSEE31 UAFM WSEE31 UBBB WSEE31 UGGG WSEE31 UTAA WSEE31 UTTT WSEE31 UUWW WSEG31 HECA WSEO31 EETN WSER20 HECA WSEW31 LEMM WSEW32 LEMM WSEW33 LEMM WSEW40 LEMM 61

62 WSFG20 SOCA WSFI31 EFHK WSFI32 EFHK WSFJ01 NFFN WSFJ03 NFFN WSFR31 LFPW WSFR32 LFPW WSFR33 LFPW WSFR34 LFPW WSFR35 LFPW WSGL31 BGSF WSGR31 LGAT WSHU31 LHBM WSIE31 EIDB WSIL31 BICC WSIN90 VIDP WSIN90 VOMM WSIO20 FMMI WSIS31 LLBG WSIY31 LIIB WSJP31 RJAA WSKG31 UAFM WSKO31 RKSI WSLB31 OLBA WSLJ31 LJLJ WSLT31 EYVI WSLV31 EVRA WSMC31 GMMC WSME31 OLBA WSMP31 LMMM WSMS03 WMKK WSMS31 WMKK WSNL31 EHDB WSNO31 ENMI WSNO36 ENMI WSNT01 KKCI WSNT02 KKCI WSNT03 KKCI WSNT04 KKCI WSNT05 KKCI WSNT06 KKCI WSNT07 KKCI WSNT08 KKCI WSNT09 KKCI WSNT10 KKCI 62

63 WSNT11 KKCI WSNT12 KKCI WSNT13 KKCI WSNT21 EGGY WSNT21 EGRR WSNZ21 NZKL WSOS31 LOWM WSPA31 PHFO WSPA32 PHFO WSPA33 PHFO WSPA34 PHFO WSPA35 PHFO WSPL31 EPWA WSPM31 MPTO WSPN01 PAJN WSPN01 PANC WSPN03 KKCI WSPN04 KKCI WSPN05 KKCI WSPN06 KKCI WSPN07 KKCI WSPN08 KKCI WSPN09 KKCI WSPN10 KKCI WSPN11 KKCI WSPN13 KKCI WSPN15 KKCI WSPO31 LPMG WSPQ31 PGUM WSPQ32 PGUM WSPQ33 PGUM WSPQ34 PGUM WSPR31 SPIM WSPS21 NZKL WSQB31 LDZM WSQB32 LYBM WSRA10 ALAK WSRA10 UAAA WSRA31 ALAC WSRA31 ALAK WSRA31 ALCE WSRA31 LOWM WSRA31 RUAA WSRA31 RUAM WSRA31 RUCH 63

64 WSRA31 RUDS WSRA31 RUEK WSRA31 RUHB WSRA31 RUIR WSRA31 RUKR WSRA31 RUMG WSRA31 RUMS WSRA31 RUNN WSRA31 RUNW WSRA31 RUOM WSRA31 RUPK WSRA31 RUPV WSRA31 RUPY WSRA31 RURD WSRA31 RUSH WSRA31 RUUF WSRA31 RUVV WSRA31 RUYK WSRA31 UAAA WSRA31 UACC WSRA31 UAFM WSRA31 UATT WSRA31 UBBB WSRA31 UGEE WSRA31 UGGG WSRA31 UHHH WSRA31 UHMM WSRA31 ULWW WSRA31 UNNT WSRA31 UTAA WSRA31 UTTT WSRH31 LDZM WSRM31 LUKK WSRO31 LROM WSRS31 ALCE WSRS31 KBKA WSRS31 RUAA WSRS31 RUKG WSRS31 RUKZ WSRS31 RUMS WSRS31 RUMU WSRS31 RUNN WSRS31 RURD WSRS31 RUSM WSRS31 RUSP 64

65 WSRS31 RUVN WSRS31 RVKG WSRS31 UAFM WSRS31 UBBB WSSB31 VCBI WSSD20 OEJD WSSN31 ESWI WSSN32 ESWI WSSQ31 LZIB WSSR20 WSSS WSSS20 VHHH WSSW31 LSSW WSTH31 VTBD WSTR31 RUMS WSTR31 UTAA WSTS31 DTTA WSTU31 LTAA WSTU31 LTAC WSTU31 LTBA WSUK31 EGGY WSUK31 EGRR WSUK32 EGJJ WSUK33 EGGY WSUK33 EGRR WSUR31 UKBB WSUR31 UKFF WSUR31 UKMS WSUR32 UKLL WSUR32 UKMS WSUR33 UKOO WSUR34 UKFF WSUR34 UKMS WSUR35 UKHH WSUR35 UKMJ WSUR35 UKMS WSUZ31 UTTT WSVS01 VVGL WSVS31 VVGL WSYE21 OYSN WSYG31 LYBM 65

66 Volcanic Ash SIGMETS WVAU01 ADRM WVBX31 EBBR WVCA31 MMEX WVCO31 SKBO WVCZ31 LKPR WVDL31 EDWW WVDL31 EDZB WVDL31 EDZE WVDL31 EDZF WVDL31 EDZH WVDL31 EDZM WVDL32 EDYY WVDL32 EDZB WVDL32 EDZF WVDN31 EKCH WVEQ31 SEGU WVEU31 BICC WVEU31 EFHK WVEU31 EGGY WVEU31 EKCH WVEU31 LDZM WVEU31 LFPW WVEU31 LIIB WVEU31 LIMM WVEU31 LOWM WVEU31 LOWW WVEU31 RUPK WVEU31 SEGU WVEW31 LEMM WVEW32 LEMM WVFI31 EFHK WVFI32 EFHK WVFJ01 NFFN WVFR31 LFPW WVIL31 BICC WVIY31 LIIB WVIY31 LIMM WVJP31 RJAA WVKO31 RKSI WVMX31 MMEX WVNA31 PGUM WVNG01 AYPY 66

67 WVNL31 EHDB WVNO31 ENMI WVNT21 EGRR WVNT32 LPMG WVPA20 PHFO WVPA31 PHFO WVPN31 PGUM WVPN31 SEGU WVPO31 LPMG WVPS21 NZKL WVPS31 NZKL WVQB31 LDZM WVRA01 RUHB WVRA31 RUPK WVRH31 LDZM WVRO31 LROM WVSA31 SEGU WVSA31 SEQU WVSA31 SKBO WVSN31 ESWI WVSW31 LSSW WVUK31 EGGY WVUK31 EGRR WVUK32 EGJJ WVUK33 EGRR 67

68 Annex 8 - Daily Distribution of Unscheduled OPMET Bulletins on SADIS The following charts indicate the number of unscheduled bulletins distributed by SADIS between the 1 st April 2004 and the 28 th February The period 17 th September to 30 th September 2005 is not included due to a procedural failure. WS SIGMETs on SADIS 350 Number of SIGMETs/day Apr-04 May-04 Jun-04 Jul-04 Aug-04 Sep-04 Oct-04 Nov-04 Dec-04 Jan-05 Date WC SIGMETS on SADIS Number of SIGMETS/Day Apr-04 May-04 Jun-04 Jul-04 Aug-04 Sep-04 Oct-04 Nov-04 Dec-04 Jan-05 Feb-05 Date

69 WV SIGMETs on SADIS SIGMETs/Day Apr-04 Apr-04 Apr-04 May-04 May-04 Jun-04 Jun-04 Jul-04 Jul-04 Aug-04 Aug-04 Sep-04 Sep-04 Sep-04 Oct-04 Oct-04 Nov-04 Nov-04 Dec-04 Dec-04 Date WA AIRMETs on SADIS AIRMETs/day Apr 01-May 01-Jun 01-Jul 01-Aug 01-Sep 01-Oct 01-Nov 01-Dec 01-Jan 01-Feb Date 69

70 FK TC Advisories on SADIS 30 Advisoriess /day /04/04 01/05/04 01/06/04 01/07/04 01/08/04 01/09/04 01/10/04 01/11/04 01/12/04 01/01/05 01/02/05 Date FV VA Advisories on SADIS Advisories/day Apr-04 May-04 Jun-04 Jul-04 Aug-04 Sep-04 Oct-04 Nov-04 Dec-04 Jan-05 Feb-05 Date 70

71 UA AIREPs on SADIS 7 6 AIREPs/day Apr-04 May-04 Jun-04 Jul-04 Aug-04 Sep-04 Oct-04 Nov-04 Dec-04 Jan-05 Feb-05 Date 71

72 Annex 9 - Visualisation of BUFR Encoded WAFS SIGWX Data (Version 2.5; V2.6 in preparation) Representing WAFS Significant Weather (SIGWX) Data in BUFR Version 2.5 December 2004 World Area Forecast Centres (WAFCs) London and Washington 72

73 Table of Contents 1. The BUFR format 1.1. INTRODUCTION 1.2. SCOPE OF DOCUMENT 1.3. CONCEPTS BUFR TABLES REPRESENTATION STANDARDS OPEN/CLOSED AREAS UNIT CONVERSIONS WMO MESSAGE HEADER ID's 2. HEADER Representation 2.1. MESSAGE HEADER FOR SWH 2.2. MESSAGE HEADER FOR SWM 3. Features Represented 3.1 GENERAL GUIDANCE 4. JET STREAM Representation 4.1. FEATURE HEADER 4.2. FEATURE DATA 5. CAT Representation 5.1. FEA TURE HEADER 5.2. FEATURE DATA 6. CLOUD Representation 6.1. FEATURE HEADER 6.2. FEATURE DATA 7. FRONT Representation 7.1. FEATURE HEADER 7.2. FEATURE DATA 8. TROP Representation 8.1. FEATURE HEADER 8.2. FEATURE DATA 9. VOLCANOES, STORMS and RADIATION Representation 73

74 9.1. FEATURE HEADER 9.2. FEATURE DATA 10. Medium Level SIGWX (SWM) Data 10.1 General 10.2 SWM Clear Air Turbulence (C.A.T.) 10.3 SWM Tropical Cyclones, Sandstorms, and Volcanoes 10.4 SWM Tropopause height 10.5 SWM Jet-Streams 10.6 SWM Fronts 10.7 SWM Cloud, In-Cloud Icing and Turbulence FEATURE HEADER FEATURE DATA 11. Relevant BUFR TABLES 12. Contact Details 13. Appendix A - Sample Asia South (PGZE15 EGRR) SIGWX Chart 74

75 DOCUMENT IDENTIFICATION SHEET DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Document title: Representing WAFS Significant Weather (SIGWX) Data in BUFR. Document Reference Number Issue : 2.5 Date Of Issue : 16/12/2004 Abstract This document provides guidelines for the correct depiction of WAFS SIGWX data from BUFR code produced by the two World Area Forecast Centres. Keywords: WAFS SIGWX BUFR Disk Reference/ File Name : \\exxnas1\userdata$\richard.orrell\mydocuments\personal files\misc Contact : R Orrell (WAFC London) Tel: +44 (0) richard.orrell@metoffice.gov.uk DOCUMENT APPROVAL Action Responsibility Name Signature Date Author WAFC London Richard Orrell Accepted 75

76 DOCUMENT CHANGE RECORD ISSUE DATE REASON FOR CHANGE SECTION PAGES AFFECTED 0.3 Nov. 03 First full draft prepared for joint WAFC BUFR liaison meeting (18/12/03) /01/04 Final draft incorporating comments from WAFC liaison meeting /03/04 Minor word change in BUFR table , and some typos corrected /03/04 Deletion of word Typically to highlight the fact that only one set of frontal movement info should be assigned to each front within the BUFR bulletin /04/04 Change to the use of figure 12 in BUFR table /05/04 Modifications to jet depiction taking into account the display of the vertical height information /05/04 Inclusion of DRAFT guidance on SWM chart production /10/04 Refinement of text in section 10, a number of additions and improvements to text throughout the document, in particular section 4. All All 1.1, 3.1, 4 12,13, 15 Section 7.2 Section 10 Section 4 New Section 10 Section 4 & 10. A few minor changes throughout the document. Many sections /11/04 Include modifications following Washington review /11/04 Minor corrections. Section /11/04 Editorial changes Many sections /11/04 Editorial changes sections 2.2 and /12/04 Guidance about excluding Himalayan region from Asia South chart. Section New Appendix A. 76

77 The BUFR format INTRODUCTION BUFR stands for Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meteorological data. It is a standard developed by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO; see WMO Manual 306 Part B for technical specification, which can be procured via the WMO web site - for the efficient storage of meteorological features in a machine independent form, where all the information to describe the features are contained within the data. This document has been prepared by the World Area Forecast Centres (WAFCs) for the purpose of providing guidance to software developers who have the task of constructing WAFS SIGWX BUFR visualisation software. The primary aim of such software should be to decode and display WAFS SIGWX data in a format that is identical to the equivalent WAFS T.4 SIGWX chart in regard to the depiction of the meteorological phenomena (cloud type, coverage and associated icing and turbulence for medium level cloud, volcanoes, tropical cyclones, radiation events, C.A.T., jet-streams, and surface fronts), and largely identical to the T.4 product in regard to the display of text boxes (related to areas of cloud, volcanoes, and C.A.T.). It is against this standard that compliances will be measured. ICAO and WMO have asked WAFC London to implement a software review process that involves assessing the quality of WAFS products produced by different visualisation systems against a list of high level criteria set by the ICAO SADIS Operations Group. Subject to the continuing agreement of the owners of the reviewed software packages, the results from these reviews will be displayed on the ICAO and WAFC London web sites, with the purpose of assisting customers in their software procurement process. The information is currently available from URL: It should be stressed that this review process is not considered a certification or an endorsement of one product over another, but is simply an objective analysis of the degree of compliance of the software to display WAFS products in a valid manner. By making the list of compliant software packages widely available to States and individual users via ICAO, it is the intention to use the review process as a mechanism to raise the level of software compliances. The WAFCs have produced this document with the intention of circulating it to all interested parties. If additional guidance or advice in regard to any of the items included in this document is required, then users, software manufacturers and State Authorities are invited to contact WAFC London. A consultancy service is available to assist these users. Please contact Richard Orrell for further information: - richard.orrell@metoffice.gov.uk Tel: +44(0) SCOPE OF DOCUMENT Sections 4 to 9 outline how each feature depicted on a HIGH level WAFS Significant Weather chart (SWH) is represented in BUFR. HIGH level data covers 25,000-63,000 feet (FL250 to FL630). Medium level data (SWM) which covers 10,000-45,000 feet (FL100 to FL450) includes additional cloud, moderate and severe TURBULENCE (TURB) and ICING data. It is scheduled to become available from WAFC London in BUFR format for test and evaluation in late-2004, with operational roll-out during 2005 (July 2005 is the official ICAO implementation date; WAFC London is intending to make data regularly available on SADIS and the WAFS FTP server for evaluation from February 2005). A new section 10 of this document covers the depiction of the SWM data. Further additions and changes to the way in which features are depicted on the SWH and SWM charts are anticipated during the next few years. This document will be updated and re-circulated prior to the introduction of these changes. This document outlines the text format used by both the WAFCs to encode and decode HIGH and MEDIUM level SIGWX data in BUFR. 77

78 CONCEPTS To produce a BUFR file two elements are needed. 1) A file of raw data and 2) a set of tables containing descriptors. When the raw data is encoded each data value is attached to a descriptor which defines what that data represents. The decoding process reads the BUFR file, looks up the descriptor in the relevant table and writes out the information in whatever format is needed. BUFR TABLES The binary BUFR files contain a set of tables descriptors and data values. To be able to understand what the values represent the descriptors need to be decoded from a set of common tables that sit on the local machine. This format means that the BUFR messages are very small and are machine independent. They can be understood and decoded by any BUFR decoder which has the latest tables available. The WAFCs use an ASCII file to store the raw data. This file is processed to produce a BUFR message. A similar procedure is used to decode BUFR messages into ASCII. Examples of this ASCII text format are used throughout this document to explain how SIGWX data is represented in BUFR. The encoder, decoder, and example binary BUFR files are available on request to WAFC London. Sample files are also available from the WAFS FTP Service (formerly called SADIS FTP backup service) which is available to all approved SADIS and ISCS users, and manufacturers of commercial WAFS visualisation software. REPRESENTATION Data held in the BUFR format is completely independent of the way in which the data is depicted on SIGWX charts. Only the information that describes the feature is encoded. For example, a CLOUD area is a list of points with the height of the base and top, the cloud type and cloud amount attributes attached. There is nothing in the BUFR bulletin about how the cloud area should be drawn, or how the attributes are to be displayed. On SIGWX charts this is shown as a box, sometimes with a call-out arrow pointing to the area but this depiction is determined by the graphical display program. This document has been produced to assist in this regard. It is recommended that the overall aim of BUFR visualisation, as stated in section 1.1, should be carefully considered STANDARDS Although no information is given in BUFR on how to visually represent the data, rules have been laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and WMO. The ICAO requirements are laid out in Annex 3, Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation in the International Standards and Recommended Practices document. They specifically relate to such things as the World Area Forecast System (WAFS), how the forecasts should be prepared, the default chart areas (ICAO areas) that should be available and when the charts should be issued. They also include guidance on how the meteorological features are to be depicted on the charts. Further detailed information about these standards is available from WAFC London. WMO Manual 306 Part B should be the standard used for the BUFR code itself OPEN/CLOSED AREAS The boundaries of areas of cloud and CAT are described as being either open or closed. Closed areas are defined as regions that have identical first and last coordinates. Open areas have different start and end coordinates. Both open and closed areas are used by the WAFCs to represent cloud and CAT boundaries. When call-out arrows are used to link 78

79 these open or closed areas to associated text boxes, it may assist the visualisation if the arrows point to the boundaries of the areas, though this is not mandated by ICAO. Areas are encoded with an orientation of the area being to the left of the boundary when drawn in the order of points given, i.e. area boundaries are encoded in an anti-clockwise direction UNIT CONVERSIONS On SIGWX charts heights are shown in 100 s feet (Flight Levels) and speeds in knots. In BUFR these are represented metrically. To convert between the two the following conversions can be used: 1 foot = metres 1 knot = metres/sec WMO MESSAGE HEADER IDs WAFC London produces HIGH level SIGWX BUFR messages 4 times a day. WAFC Washington produces test HIGH level SIGWX BUFR bulletins which can be retrieved from their FTP server. Both WAFCs anticipate operational dissemination of SWM BUFR bulletins during All of the operational BUFR bulletins are broadcast on the SADIS and ISCS satellite systems, and on the WAFS FTP server. The messages and the corresponding WMO headers (HDLs) are shown in. BUFR FEATURES COMMON NAME WMO HEADER used by WAFC London WMO HEADER used by WAFC Washington Jet-streams JETS JUWE96 EGRR JUWE96 KKCI Clear Air Turbulence (C.A.T.) CAT JUCE00 EGRR JUCE00 KKCI Embedded Cumulo-nimbus CLOUD JUBE99 EGRR JUBE99 KKCI Tropopause height TROP JUTE97 EGRR JUTE97 KKCI Frontal Systems FRONTS JUFE00 EGRR JUFE00 KKCI Tropical Cyclone, Sandstorms & V_T_S JUVE00 EGRR JUVE00 KKCI Volcanoes SWM Tropopause height M-TROP JUOE00 EGRR JUOE00 KKCI SWM jet-streams M-JETS JUTE00 EGRR JUTE00 KKCI SWM fronts M-FRONTS JUJE00 EGRR JUJE00 KKCI SWM cloud, in-cloud icing and M-CLOUD JUNE00 EGRR JUNE00 KKCI turbulence SWM Clear Air Turbulence (C.A.T.) M-CAT JUME00 EGRR JUME00 KKCI Figure 9 - WMO headers for SIGWX BUFR messages issued by WAFCs London and Washington Note: The bulletins assigned to SWM data are either empty or not produced at present but will be used in late-2004/early 2005 to store medium level SIGWX data. All the other messages contain global high level SIGWX data. Bulletin JUVE00 EGRR/KKCI is applicable to both high and medium level data. It should be noted that when SWM is implemented operationally in BUFR format there will be a requirement for the visualisation software to clearly depict the limited coverage areas of this data. Unlike SWH data, it is the intention of the WAFCs to only issue SWM data in BUFR for the areas currently forecast at medium level in T.4 facsimile format. To ensure that users do not try and produce SWM charts from BUFR data over user defined regions that do not contain forecast data, it will be recommended that the software indicates, by way of diagonal hatching lines, all geographical areas that are not covered by 79

80 forecast data. The areas for which data is produced at medium level will be described within the SWM bulletins. 2 HEADER Representation A BUFR message will always be packaged between the characters BUFR and Before the data representing the features appears a header is always found that details where the message has come from, the date and validity times and the flight levels it is valid for. At present each feature is encoded into a separate file (apart from the volcanoes, storms and radiation events, and SWM cloud, SWM in -cloud icing and in-cloud turbulence which are all included together), each of which have their own header. 2.1 MESSAGE HEADER FOR SWH Contains general data concerning the origin and validity time for the data. 93 Originating centre DATA Time - Year, month, day, hour, minute FORECAST Time - Year, month, day, hour, minute Flight level boundaries (base and top) 2.2 MESSAGE HEADER FOR SWM Contains general data concerning the origin and validity time for the data, plus information about the areas of data coverage. 93 Originating centre DATA Time - Year, month, day, hour, minute FORECAST Time - Year, month, day, hour, minute Flight level boundaries (base and top) , , , Area EURO , , , Area MEA , , , Area Asia South , , , Area NAT Note: This is an example of a WAFC London header. Areas MEA and Asia South are both Mercator projection charts. Area EURO and NAT are both polar stereographic projection charts. The last four lines of digits contain the latitude and longitude points of the corners of the chart areas for which data is included in the BUFR bulletin. The latitude (lat) and longitude (long) points are plotted in the following orientation: BLHC_lat BLHC_long, TLHC_lat TLHC_long, TRHC_lat TRHC_long, BRHC_lat BRHC_long where BLHC=bottom left hand corner, TLHC=top left hand corner, TRHC=top right hand corner, and BRHC=bottom right hand corner. In the example the last row of digits represents the corner points for the North Atlantic (ICAO area H) SWM chart normally produced by WAFC Washington. Forecast data for this area will normally only be included in a SWM BUFR bulletin issued by WAFC London when London is backing up WAFC Washington. On the majority of occasions this additional row of digits will be replaced by free text indicating that Washington backup is not in operation. 93 Originating centre DATA Time - Year, month, day, hour, minute 80

81 FORECAST Time - Year, month, day, hour, minute Flight level boundaries (base and top) , , , , , , , , , NO WASHINGTON BACKUP Note: This is an example of a WAFC London header. Example areas assigned to WAFC Washington headers. During backup mode, During standard mode, , , , , , , , , , , , , NO LONDON BACKUP NO LONDON BACKUP NO LONDON BACKUP , , ,

82 3 Features Represented The chart in shows an example of SIGWX data and includes the following HIGH level features: Jet-streams Clear Air Turbulence (C.A.T.) CB Cloud Fronts Tropopause heights Tropical Revolving Storms (T.R.S.) Figure 10 - Example High Level WAFS SIGWX (SWH) chart 82

83 3.1 GENERAL GUIDANCE 1. The standard against which software will be reviewed is for SIGWX charts produced from BUFR to be identical to the equivalent T.4 SIGWX chart in regard to the depiction of meteorological information, and largely identical to the depiction of non-meteorological features, which include cloud text boxes, volcano legend boxes and CAT boxes. 2. Legends assigned to charts constructed from BUFR should state the production source (WAFC London or WAFC Washington) of the BUFR data used to create the chart. However if the user modifies any of the meteorological information contained on the chart, the software must automatically remove any reference to the originating source. The addition of new meteorological information, e.g. interpolated jet speeds, using techniques specified in this document is permissible. The physical positions of cloud text boxes and CAT boxes can be modified without needing to remove reference to the source of the data. 3. Legends are required to contain the same text as assigned to a T4 SIGWX chart legend. This includes the following important information CB IMPLIES MOD OR SEV TURBULENCE, ICE AND HAIL. ALL HEIGHT INDICATIONS IN FLIGHT LEVELS. ALL SPEEDS IN KNOTS. CHECK SIGMETS FOR VOLCANIC ASH. 4. The standard ICAO areas (A, B, B1, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K and M) with their correct projections should be available to users as default areas. These include the ability to produce a chart which spans the International Date Line. 5. Production of SIGWX charts for these standard areas should be attainable via an automated process which requires no human intervention to de-clutter overlapping or misaligned text boxes. An auto-placement algorithm will need to be employed to determine the location of information that is not assigned with a position in the BUFR message, e.g. the location of cloud text boxe s, CAT boxes. It is recommended that a manual editing facility is available to users so that the physical locations of these boxes can be changed if required. 6. Particular emphasis should be given to the correct depiction of tropical cyclones, radiation events, sandstorms, and volcanic eruption symbols and associated information. 4 JET STREAM Representation The JET STREAMS shown in can be represented in a text form which the BUFR encoder will understand. It will then be able to code up this data into a BUFR message. A JET is made up of a series of CORE points, wind symbols (fleche marks) and change bars. The wind symbol at the location of maximum jet speed/speeds also contain vertical height information in the format +DD/-DD, where +DD refers to the height of the 80 knot isotach above the jet core, and the DD below the jet core, in hundreds of feet. This vertical depth of wind maxima is always placed underneath the jet stream flight level text at the point of maximum speed or speeds only. Only jets of speed 120kt or more will contain vertical depth information. Core points are encoded in BUFR with a designated latitude and longitude, but no speed or flight level. All of these core points should be used to plot the location of jet-streams. An appropriate smoothing technique such as a cubic spline should be used to smooth the jet-stream curve plotted between these core points. It is not recommended that any other points within the BUFR bulletin are included within the cubic spline routine for smoothing. Latitude and longitude points assigned to wind symbols should not be included in the process used to draw the axis of the jet-stream. The wind symbols should be plotted separately along the length of the jet displaying the speed and flight level information assigned to them within the BUFR message. The latitude and longitude points that are assigned to each wind symbol should be viewed as a first estimate of the position of each wind symbol. This position may be a short distance away from the axis of the jet-stream depending on the degree of alignment between the smoothing algorithms employed at the production and user sites. It is recommended that the end users software utilises a function that computes the nearest position along the jet axis to the location of each wind symbol as provided in the BUFR messages, and automatically plots the wind symbol at this position. 83

84 For user defined chart areas that do not contain a jet max wind vertex we recommend that no vertical depth information is derived through interpolation. On such occasions we recommend that the jet is plotted with no vertical depth information, i.e. interpolated jet height values are not used. If there is insufficient space (less than 15 characters) on the jet-stream to display a full wind symbol, a change bar may be used instead. A change bar depicts a change of speed of 20 knots. Please note that change bars are not used to depict changes in jet height. Figure 11 Example Jet Stream Figure 4 Jetstream depiction showing display of vertical depth information at locations of maximum speed, and crossing jets. Note: when the WAFCs commence operational production of vertical depth information (25 November 2004) values will only be included for jetstreams with a maximum speed of 120kts or more. If two jet streams cross each other then the convention that should be adopted is that the jet at greatest altitude is displayed as a complete line, and the jet beneath is displayed as a broken line see figure 4 above. Note: the break in the lower jetstream is not encoded within the BUFR bulletin. This needs to be determined by the visualisation software. 84

85 The WIND SYMBOLS indicate the wind speed and the flight level for the points it is positioned at. Each black triangle represents 50 knots, each line 10 knots and each half line 5 knots. The flight level is written underneath in terms of how many 100 s feet it is at. The example here gives a speed of 110 knots at 36,000 feet. The CHANGE BAR represents a change of 20 knots along the JET. By ICAO definition a JET will always start and finish at 80 knots. By using change bars and wind symbols the speed of a JET can be plotted anywhere along its course. It is recommended that change bars are only plotted when there is insufficient space, less than 15 characters, between WIND SYMBOLS. It is recommended that the software always plots the maximum wind (using a wind symbol) along the length of the jet-stream, and then works laterally along the length of the jet in both directions using a combination of wind symbols and change bars as appropriate. This approach makes the change bars maximum speed relative as opposed to minimum wind (80 KT) relative, i.e. the change bars represent 20-knot steps from the maximum speed rather than from the 80-knot end points. In BUFR change bars are not explicitly encoded. The scale of the chart being drawn and the area it covers will determine the proportion of wind symbols to change bars. This will need to be worked out by the graphics program that constructs the chart. To mitigate against so-called edge effects, when jet speed and height information is missing from jets plotted near chart boundaries, it is permissible (indeed recommended) for the software to deduce the flight level at the start and end of jets near chart borders, and at any points in between as required, by assuming that the flight level at a point is the same as it is at the nearest available wind symbol. Similarly it is recommended that the software applies, when necessary, linear interpolation between wind symbols, to establish the speed at any point along a jet axis. 4.1 FEATURE HEADER Contains the type of data to follow and the number of features in the list. JET Type of feature 2 Number of jets in list 4.2 FEATURE DATA The first row for each jet lists the number of points (both core and wind symbol) in it. Six columns containing latitude, longitude, height information, speed data, height of 80 knot isotach located above jet, and height of 80 knot isotach located below jet follow. Height is stored in metres and speeds in ms -1. The visualization software needs to express the data on charts using conventional Flight Level and knots values. 11 Number of points to follow (1 st jet) Core point (no height and speed data) Wind Symbol (speed and height data given) Wind symbol at position of max speed

86 Wind symbol at position of max speed Number of points to follow (2 nd jet) Core point (no height and speed data) Wind Symbol (speed and height data given) Wind symbol at position of max speed CAT Representation Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) is represented on a SIGWX chart by a dashed area and a number,. This number relates to the base, top and type information held in the legend. In BUFR how the data is depicted is not specified. Only the points describing the line and the attributes associated with that line are held. Figure 5 - CAT area and legend It is recommended that a cubic spline technique is employed to ensure that a smooth continuous line is plotted between vertices. Please note that open and closed boundaries are used for encoding CAT information see section If call-out arrows are used to link areas of CAT to boxed numbers then it is recommended that the call-out arrows point to the CAT boundaries as opposed to inside the areas of CAT. 5.1 FEATURE HEADER Contains the type of data to follow and the number of features in the list. TURB Type of feature 2 Number of CAT areas in list 86

87 5.2 FEATURE DATA 1 st row = heights of CAT base and top in meters, 2 nd row = number of points in area. These are followed by two columns containing latitude and longitude data. A single number in the last row indicates the degree of turbulence (6=MOD, 7=SEVERE, 19=MOD OCNL SEVERE) BASE and TOP of CAT area (metres) 17 Number of points in CAT area Latitude and longitude values CLOSED area because the last point matches the first 6 Degree of turbulence (see Section 11 - table ) BASE and TOP of CAT area (metres) 12 Number of points in CAT area Latitude and longitude values CLOSED area because the last point matches the first 6 Degree of turbulence (see Section 11 - table ) 6 CLOUD Representation CLOUD areas (see figure 6) are shown on the charts as a scalloped area and an information box, sometimes shown with an arrow if the box is not inside the area. This arrow should point to the boundary of the cloud area, As with CAT, only the data is held in BUFR so the box itself, its position and the arrow are all added by the drawing package. Open and closed cloud boundaries are encoded in BUFR see section

88 Figure 6 - CLOUD area and data box It is recommended that a cubic spline technique is employed to ensure that a continuous scalloped line is plotted between vertices. Cloud areas are encoded with an orientation of the cloud area being to the left of the boundary when drawn in the order of points given. 6.1 FEATURE HEADER Contains the type of data to follow and the number of features in the list. CLOUD Type of feature 2 Number of CLOUD areas in list 6.2 FEATURE DATA 1 st row = heights of CLOUD base and top in meters, 2 nd row = number of points in area. These rows are followed by two columns containing latitude and longitude data. The numbers in the last row indicate the distribution and type of the CLOUD BASE and TOP of CLOUD area (metres) 9 Number of points in CLOUD area Latitude and longitude values CLOUD distribution (see Section 11 - table ) CLOUD type (see Section 11 - table ) BASE and TOP of CLOUD area (metres) 8 Number of points in CLOUD area Latitude and longitude values CLOUD distribution (see Section 11 - table ) CLOUD type (see Section 11 - table ) 88

89 7 FRONT Representation, including Convergence Zones (e.g. ITCZ) Surface fronts are shown as coloured lines with symbols at intervals, see figure 7. In BUFR the line points and the frontal type is stored. Figure 7 Example Frontal system Note: The standard meteorological conventions have been followed by the graphics software when the features have been drawn. It is recommended that a smoothing technique such as a cubic spline technique is employed to ensure that a smooth continuous line is plotted between data points. Tropical convergence lines/zones are included in the same BUFR bulletin (JUFE00 EGRR/KKCI) as the one used for surface fronts. Tropical convergence lines/zones should be depicted by the graphics package as two parallel lines, with the letters ITCZ plotted above such lines occurring in tropical latitudes see figure 8 for an example. Figure 8 ITCZ Depiction 7.1 FEATURE HEADER Contains the type of data to follow and the number of features in the list. FRONT Type of feature 4 Number of FRONT lines in list 89

90 7.2 FEATURE DATA 1 st row = type of front. 2 nd row = number of points in front, followed by four columns containing latitude, longitude, direction and speed data. One point will have the front s velocity; the rest will be left with missing direction and speed. Speed is in ms -1 and direction in degrees. A missing direction and speed of 0.0 is used for a SLOW front. 2 Type of front (see Section 11 - table ) 5 Number of points in FRONT line Latitude, longitude, direction and speed Type of front (see Section 11 - table ) 6 Number of points in FRONT line Latitude, longitude, direction and speed Type of front (see Section 11 - table ) 5 Number of points in FRONT line Latitude, longitude, direction and speed Type of front (see Section 11 - table ) 11 Number of points in FRONT line Latitude, longitude, direction and speed [for this front there is no assigned speed and direction because the front is representing the ITCZ over Africa.] TROP Representation Three different types of TROP labels are used on SIGWX charts,. Highs, lows and spot values. These are represented as three different types in BUFR. Figure 9 - High, low and spot value trop boxes 90

91 8.1 FEATURE HEADER Contains the type of data to follow and the number of features in the list. TROP Type of feature 3 Number of TROP boxes in list 8.2 FEATURE DATA 1 st row = type of tropopause box (e.g. low, high). 2 nd row = number of trop boxes of this type, followed by three columns containing latitude, longitude and height data. Heights are in metres Type of TROP box (see Section 11 - table ) 4 Number of TROP boxes of this type Latitude and longitude location and height value Type of TROP box (see Section 11 - table ) 1 Number of TROP boxes of this type Latitude and longitude location and height value 2 Type of TROP box (see Section 11 - table ) 1 Number of TROP boxes of this type Latitude and longitude location and height value 9 VOLCANOES, TROPICAL REVOLVING STORMS (TRS) and RADIATION Representation Volcanoes, TRS and radiation events are all held in one file. The symbols on the charts are shown in figure 10. The data for each feature is held in BUFR as shown below though no details of how these are to be depicted is given. The convention outlined in ICAO Annex 3 should be followed. Information contained in this BUFR bulletin is equally applicable to SWM charts and SWH charts. Figure 10 - Volcano, Tropical Revolving Storm and radiation symbols Please note that the applicability of this data to SWM and SWH charts is reflected in the message 91

92 header of the bulletin. The flight level boundaries span the base of a SWM chart (3050) to the top of an SWH chart (19200) see below. 93 Originating centre DATA Time - Year, month, day, hour, minute FORECAST Time - Year, month, day, hour, minute Flight level boundaries (base and top) 9.1 FEATURE HEADER There are 3 possible headers in this file, each indicating the type of data to follow and the number of features in the list. STORM Type of feature 1 Number of STORMS in list VOLCANO Type of feature 1 Number of VOLCANOES in list RADIATION Type of feature 1 Number of RADIATION incidents in list 9.2 FEATURE DATA Each feature follows a different set of data as shown below. STORM FRED Name UNKNOWN used if it s a sandstorm Latitude and Longitude of storm 2 STORM type (See Section 11 - table ) VOLCANO Etna Name of volcano Latitude and longitude of volcano Eruption time (Year, month, day, hour and minute; the date and time of eruption is not routinely included in the BUFR bulletins produced by the two WAFCs. This is because the information is not normally available to the WAFC forecasters.) RADIATION Location of incident (Not used at present) Latitude and longitude of incident Eruption time (Year, month, day, hour and minute; Year and month aren t used) Note: The SIGWX BUFR encode software inserts a replication factor of 1 for each volcano. This replication factor is not explicitly displayed when the UK Met Office decoder is used. 92

93 10 Medium Level SIGWX (SWM) Data 10.1 General WAFS SWM data is valid between FL100 and FL450. Currently data for only four regions of the world are included in the SWM bulletins: three regions are routinely included in the SWM bulletins issued by WAFC London, and a single region (NAT) is included in the SWM bulletins issued by WAFC Washington. During periods of backup data for all four regions are included in the SWM bulletins issued by the operational WAFC. Global SWM data is not provided in the SWM bulletins. The areas for which data is provided correspond to the following T.4 chart areas:- NAT, EURO, MID and ASIA SOUTH. SWM Area Originating WAFC WMO Header EURO Routine: London PGDE15 EGRR MID ASIA SOUTH Routine: London Routine: London PGCE15 EGRR PGZE15 EGRR NAT Routine: Washington PGNE15 KKCI Figure 11 SWM forecast areas, and corresponding headers of T.4 charts The current SWM production schedule requires London to produce data for areas EURO, MID and ASIA SOUTH, and for Washington to produce data for area NAT. This will result in London issuing BUFR data for its three areas of responsibility using bulletins of WMO format JU**** EGRR, and Washington issuing data for its single area of responsibility using bulletin headers of format JU**** KKCI. During periods of backup when one of the centres is unavailable the other centre will produce data for all four regions and include this complete data within its routine bulletins JU**** EGRR/KKCI. It is required that the visualisation software clearly depicts, when necessary, the limited coverage areas of this data to ensure that users do not try and produce SWM charts from BUFR data over user defined regions that do not contain forecast data. It is strongly recommended that the software indicates, by way of diagonal hatching lines, all geographical areas that are not covered by forecast data. This includes the Himalayan region included within the Asia South region. This region on the Asia South chart is bounded by the northern edge of the chart and the following southern boundary - 36N 64E, 30N 64E, 28N 65E, 34N 69E, 34N 74E, 28N 85E, 28N 98E, 25N 100E, 36N 105E - please see a sample Asia South chart (PGZE15 EGRR) in appendix A for an example. The chart areas for which data is produced at medium level will be described within the SWM bulletins. All of the information that is required for SWM charts is contained in the following bulletins:- BUFR FEATURES COMMON NAME WMO HEADER used by WAFC London WMO HEADER used by WAFC Washington Tropical Cyclone, Sandstorms & V_T_S JUVE00 EGRR JUVE00 KKCI Volcanoes SWM Tropopause height M-TROP JUOE00 EGRR JUOE00 KKCI SWM jet-streams M-JETS JUTE00 EGRR JUTE00 KKCI SWM fronts M-FRONTS JUJE00 EGRR JUJE00 KKCI SWM cloud, in-cloud icing and M-CLOUD JUNE00 EGRR JUNE00 KKCI turbulence SWM Clear Air Turbulence (C.A.T.) M-CAT JUME00 EGRR JUME00 KKCI 93

94 Figure 12 Bulletins containing SIGWX data applicable to SWM charts Note: The bulletin that contains tropical cyclone, sandstorm and volcano information (JUVE00 EGRR and JUVE00 KKCI) is the same bulletin used for producing SWH charts. This bulletin is equally applicable to SWM and SWH charts SWM Clear Air Turbulence (C.A.T.) All CAT information that is applicable to SWM is contained in the bulletin JUME00 EGRR/KKCI. Section 5 of this document provides an example of how this information is presented within a CAT bulletin applicable to SWH. This format is identical to the format used for SWM CAT with the only exception that the FEATURE HEADER is modified to: MTURB Type of feature [Medium level Clear Air Turbulence] Important note: the FEATURE HEADER is an important designator used at the point of production and is not explicitly included in disseminated BUFR bulletins SWM Tropical Cyclones, Sandstorms & Volcanoes All information relating to these types of features is contained in the same bulletin that is used to construct SWH charts (JUVE00 EGRR and JUVE00 KKCI). See section 9 of this document to review the format of how this information is presented. Please note that all of the features contained within these files are applicable to the SWM charts, i.e. the phenomena are not height dependent SWM Tropopause (TROP) Height See section 8 of this document to review how tropopause height information is presented. Tropopause heights applicable to medium level charts are contained in the SWM tropopause height bulletin (JUOE00 EGRR and JUOE00 KKCI). This information should be plotted on the SWM charts using the same formats applied to the SWH tropopause heights. The only difference between the SWM and SWH TROP height bulletins is the FEATURE HEADER. The FEATURE HEADER assigned to the SWM TROP height bulletin is as follows: MTROP Type of feature [Medium level Tropopause height] 10.5 SWM Jet-Streams See section 4 of this document to review how jet-stream information is presented. Jet-streams applicable to medium level charts are contained in the SWM jet-stream bulletin (JUTE00 EGRR and JUTE00 KKCI). This information should be plotted on the SWM charts using the same formats applied to the SWH jetstreams. MJET Type of feature (Medium level jet-stream) 10.6 SWM Fronts See section 7 of this document to review how frontal (including convergence zones/lines) information is presented. Fronts applicable to medium level charts are contained in the SWM fronts bulletin (JUJE00 EGRR and JUJE00 KKCI). This information should be plotted on the SWM charts using the same formats applied to the SWH fronts. The only difference between the SWM and SWH Fronts height bulletins is the FEATURE HEADER. The FEATURE HEADER assigned to the SWM Fronts bulletin is as follows: MFRONT Type of feature 94

95 10.7 SWM Cloud, In-Cloud Icing and Turbulence On SWM charts, cloud, in-cloud icing and turbulence information is normally plotted together within one legend box and linked to the defined area by a call-out arrow. Sometimes a separate legend box is used to indicate the degree of CB activity, though a separate box is not a formal requirement. See figure 13 for an example. FIGURE 13 Example Cloud, in-cloud icing and turbulence depiction FEATURE HEADER Contains the type of data to follow and the number of features in the list. MCLOUD Type of feature 2 Number of CLOUD areas in list FEATURE DATA 1 st row = number of points in area. These rows are followed by two columns containing latitude and longitude data. The numbers in the next row indicate information about the non-cb cloud. This is followed by information about the degree of in-cloud turbulence, then the degree of in-cloud icing, and finally information about CB activity. 9 Number of points in CLOUD area Latitude and longitude values Number of NON-CB CLOUD distributions (see section 11 descriptor ) 3 CLOUD distribution (see Section 11 - table ) 3 Number of NON-CB CLOUD types (See Section 11 descriptor ) NON-CB CLOUD types (code figure) (See Section 11 table ) 1 Optional TURBULENCE section (=1 if turbulence, 0 if not) BASE and TOP of TURBULENCE area (metres) 2 DEGREE of TURBULENCE (See Section 11 table ) 1 Optional ICING section (=1 if icing, 0 if not) BASE and TOP of ICING area (metres) 5 DEGREE of ICING (See Section 11 95

96 table ) 0 Optional CB section (=1 if CB, 0 if not) 8 Number of points in CLOUD area Latitude and longitude values Number of NON-CB CLOUD distributions (see section 11 descriptor ) 7 14 CLOUD distribution (see Section 11 - table ) 0 Number of NON-CB CLOUD types (See Section 11 descriptor ) 1 Optional TURBULENCE section (=1 if turbulence, 0 if not) BASE and TOP of TURBULENCE area (metres) 2 DEGREE of TURBULENCE (See Section 11 table ) 1 Optional ICING section (=1 if icing, 0 if not) BASE and TOP of ICING area (metres) 5 DEGREE of ICING (See Section 11 table ) 1 Optional CB section (=1 if CB, 0 if not) BASE and TOP of CB CLOUD (metres) 9 CLOUD distribution (see Section 11 - table ) 9 CLOUD type (=CB)(See Section 11 table ) 96

97 11 Relevant BUFR Tables Elements that are commonly used in SWM and/or SWH data are highlighted in red. 97

98 ORIGINATING/GENERATING CENTRE 1 AMMC MELBOURNE 2 MELBOURNE 4 RUMS MOSCOW 5 MOSCOW 7 KWBC WASHINGTON (NCEP) 8 KWXX US W/SERVICE (NWSTG) 10 HECA CAIRO RMC 11 CAIRO RMC 12 GOOY DAKAR RMC 13 DAKAR RMC 14 HKNA NAIROBI RMC 15 NAIROBI RMC 16 FMMD ANTANANARIVO (not in Manual) 17 ANTANANARIVO (not in Manual) 18 DTTV TUNIS-CASABLANCA 19 TUNIS-CASABLANCA 20 SPLP LAS PALMAS 21 DAMM ALGIERS 22 LPLG LAGOS RMS (not in Manual) 23 LAGOS RMS (not in Manual) 24 FAPR PRETORIA 25 FME LA REUNION 26 RUKH KHABAROVSK 27 KHABAROVSK 28 DEMS NEW DELHI 29 NEW DELHI 30 UNNN NOVOSIBIRSK 31 NOVOSIBIRSK 32 RUTK TASHKENT 33 JEDDAH 34 RJTD TOKYO 35 TOKYO RMC 36 VTBB BANGKOK 37 MNUB ULAN BATOR 38 BABJ BEIJING 39 BEIJING 40 RKSL SEOUL 41 SABM BUENOS AIRES 42 BUENOS AIRES 43 SBBR BRASILIA 44 BRASILIA 45 SCSC SANTIAGO 46 BRAZILIAN SA - INPE 51 KMIA MIAMI 52 MIAMI HURRICANE CENTRE 53 CWAO MONTREAL RMC 54 MONTREAL RMC 55 KSFO SANFRANCISCO 57 KARS US AIR FORCE (ARGOS COMMUNICATIONS CENTRE, LANDOVER, MD) 58 KMRY US NAVY, MONTEREY 59 KBOU BOULDER (NOAA FORECAST LAB) 60 NCAR 61 Service ARGOS (Landover) 62 US Naval Oceanographic Office 64 PHNL HONOLULU 65 ADRM DARWIN 66 DARWIN 67 AMMC MELBOURNE 69 NZKL WELLINGTON 70 WELLINGTON 71 NFFN NADI (FIJI) 74 EGRR UK MET OFFICE 75 UK MET OFFICE 76 MOSCOW 78 EDZW OFFENBACH 79 OFFENBACH 80 LIIB ROME RMC 81 ROME RMC 82 BGSF SONDRE/STROMFJORD GREENLAND??? (Manual says Norrkoping) 83 ESWI NORRKOPING RMC 84 Toulouse 85 LFPW TOULOUSE 98

99 86 EFKL HELSINKI 87 LYMB BELGRADE 88 ENMI OSLO 89 LKPR PRAGUE 90 LCRO EPISKOPI 91 LTAA ANKARA 92 EDDZ FRANKFURT/MAIN 93 EGRB LONDON WAFC 94 EKCH COPENHAGEN 95 LERT ROTA 96 LGAT ATHENS 97 EESA ESA 98 ECMF ECMWF 99 EHDB DE BILT 110 VHHH HONG KONG 160 NOAA/NESDIS 210 FRASCATI (ESA/ESRIN) 211 LFRO LANNION 212 LPPT LISBOA 213 BIRK REYKJAVIK 214 MADRID 215 LSZH ZURICH 216 ARGOS (Toulouse) 217 LZIB BRATISLAVA 218 LHBP BUDAPEST 219 LJLJ LJUBLJANA 220 EPWA WARSAW 221 LDZA ZAGREB 254 EUMETSAT VERTICAL SOUNDING SIGNIFICANCE (7-BIT FLAG TABLE) 1 SURFACE 2 STANDARD 3 TROPOPAUSE 4 MAX WIND 5 SIG TEMP 6 SIG WIND METEOROLOGICAL ATTRIBUTE SIGNIFICANCE 0 Automatic 1 STORM CENTRE 2 STORM EDGE OR OUTER LIMIT 3 MAXIMUM WIND DIMENSIONAL SIGNIFICANCE 0 POINT 1 LINE 2 AREA 3 VOLUME TIME SIGNIFICANCE 0 1 TIME SERIES 2 TIME AVERAGE 3 ACCUMULATED 4 FORECAST 5 F/C TIME SER 6 F/C TIME AVE 7 F/C ACCUM 8 ENSEMBLE MEAN ARE AS 1-7 FOR ENSEMBLE MEAN

100 ANALYSED 17 START OF PHENOMENON 18 SONDE LAUNCH 19 ORBIT START 20 ORBIT END 21 ASC NODE 22 WIND SHIFT 23 Monitoring period 24 Agreed limit for report reception 25 Nominal reporting time 26 Last known position time 27 FIRST GUESS 28 START OF SCAN 29 END OF SCAN CBS Flight Level Significance 0 High resolution data sample 1 Within 20hPa of surface 2 <10hPa 3 Base pressure level for stability index 4 Begin T,ht doubtful 5 Begin missing data (all elements) 6 Begin RH missing 7 Begin T missing 8 Highest level reached before balloon descent 9 End T,ht doubtful 10 End missing data (all elements) 11 End RH missing 12 End T missing 13 0C crossing for RADAT 14 Std pressure 15 Operator added level 16 Operator deleted level 17 Balloon reascended beyond previous highest level 18 Sig RH 19 No more RH 20 Surface 21 Sig T 22 Mandatory T 23 Flight termination 24 Tropopause 25 Aircraft report 26 Interpolated level 27 Mandatory wind 28 Sig wind 29 Max wind 30 Increm wind 31 Increm height 32 Wind termination hPa 40 Inversion 41 Sig RH (NCDC criteria) 42 Sig T (NCDC) 60 80kt FL above jet (flight level of 80-knot isotach) 61 80kt FL below jet (flight level of 80-knot isotach) EXTENDED DEGREE OF TURBULENCE Code figure 0 Nil 1 Light in cloud 2 Moderate 3 Severe 4 Nil 5 Light in clear air 6 Moderate 7 Severe 100

101 8 Nil 9 Light cloud/clear not specified 10 Moderate 11 Severe 12 Extreme, in clear air 13 Extreme, in cloud 14 Extreme, cloud/clear air not specified 15 Light ISOL MOD 16 Light OCNL MOD 17 Light FRQ MOD 18 MOD ISOL SEV 19 MOD OCNL SEV 20 MOD FRQ SEV 21 SEV ISOL EXTREME 22 SEV OCNL EXTREME 23 SEV FRQ EXTREME Reserved 63 Missing value CLOUD DISTRIBUTION FOR AVIATION 0 SKY CLEAR 1 FEW 2 SCATTERED 3 BROKEN 4 OVERCAST 5 6 SCT/BKN scattered/ 7 BKN/OVC broken/overcast 8 ISOLATED 9 ISOL/EMBD isolated/embedded 10 OCCASIONAL 11 OCNL/EMBD occasional/embedded 12 FREQUENT 13 DENSE 14 LAYERS CLOUD TYPE 0 CI 1 CC 2 CS 3 AC 4 AS 5 NS 6 SC 7 ST 8 CU 9 CB 40 CH SPECIAL CLOUDS 0 1 NACREOUS 2 NOCTILUCENT 3 WATERFALL 4 FIRE CLOUDS 5 VOLCANIC 101

102 ACTIVITY OR FACILITY INVOLVED IN INCIDENT 0 1 GROUND REACTOR 2 SEA REACTOR 3 SPACE REACTOR 4 NUC.FUEL FAC 5 RAD.WASTE 6 WASTE TRANSP 7 WASTE STORAG 8 MANUF.ISOTOP 9 ISOTOPE USE 10 ISO STORAGE 11 ISO DISPOSAL 12 ISO TRANSPRT 13 ISO POWERGEN is described as DELAYED DESCRIPTOR REPLICATION FACTOR This is a numeric value indicating how many times a feature is replicated and is NOT a BUFR table METEOROLOGICAL FEATURE 0 QSTAT FRONT 1 QFRONT ALOFT 2 WARM FRONT 3 WFRONTALOFT 4 COLD FRONT 5 CFRONT ALOFT 6 OCCLUSION 7 INSTAB LINE 8 TROPIC FRONT (ITCZ) 9 CONVERG LINE 10 JET STREAM 11 CLOUD CLEAR 12 CLOUD 13 TURBULENCE 14 STORM 15 AIRFRANE ICING 16 PHENOMENON 17 VOLCANO 18 ATMOSPHERICS SPECIAL CLOUDS SIGNIFICANCE OF FOLLOWING VALUE (FIRST ORDER STATISTICS) MAXIMUM 3 MINIMUM 4 MEAN 5 MEDIAN 6 MODAL 7 MEAN ABS ERROR 8 9 STD DEV (N-1) BEST ESTIMATE 10 STD DEV (N) 11 HARMONIC MEAN 12 RMS VECTOR ERROR 13 ROOT MEAN SQUARE

103 VECTOR MEAN TYPE OF SYNOPTIC FEATURE 0 DEPRESSION 1 TROP DEPRESS 2 TROPIC STORM 3 SEVERE STORM 4 TYPHOON DUST/SANDSTORM AIRFRAME ICING 0 NONE 1 LIGHT 2 LIGHT (CLOUD 3 LIGHT (PRECP 4 MOD 5 MOD (CLOUD) 6 MOD (PRECIP) 7 SEV 8 SEV (CLOUD) 9 SEV (PRECIP) 10 TRACE 11 TRACE (CLOUD) 12 TRACE (PRECIPITATION) 12 Contact Details WAFC London can provide a consultancy service to assist individual clients or States in the construction of WAFS visualisation software that is fully compliant with ICAO Annex 3 and the software criteria that have been constructed by the ICAO SADIS Operations Group. Please contact WAFC London via the contact details below for further information. WAFC London Richard Orrell Met Office Fitzroy Road Exeter Devon EX1 3PB United Kingdom Tel: +44(0) Fax: +44(0) Mobile: +44(0) richard.orrell@metoffice.gov.uk 103

104 WAFC Washington Clinton E. Wallace Chief, Aviation Support Branch Aviation Weather Center (NOAA/NWS/NCEP) 7220 NW 101 st Terrace, Room 101 Phone: Fax:

105 13. Appendix A - Sample Asia South chart clearly showing the Himalayan region hatched out (no forecast information). This hatching needs to be automatically included by the workstation software. 105

106 3. PERFORMANCE OF THE VSAT & HUB 3.1 VSATS The list of authorised accesses to the SADIS service is given in the Annex 1 to Chapter 3. It may be noted that two approved users have selected to receive their data via the WAFS FTP service only. A new indicator has been introduced to identify this set of users Installation Procedures Full installation instructions are provided with the VSAT equipment. However, the following matters should be addressed prior to any other preparatory work, as listed in the SADIS User Guide: Is there a clear line of sight to the satellite from the proposed location? Is there access for the transport of equipment - e.g. check lifts, doorways etc? Are there structural implications if roof- mounted e.g. load-bearing capability, nonpenetrable mounts and ballast? Total weight of antenna (2.4 m diameter) plus brackets and base assembly is approx. 450 kg; ballast to secure structure is 1500kg; total weight including ballast is 1950 kg; footprint required for non-penetrating mount is approx. 25 m 2. A civil engineer consultancy may be required to ascertain this. Is planning or installation permission required in any particular State or location? Do any changes to be made comply with local building regulations? Consider runs of cable to end-user. In this respect 75 m is the normal maximum; beyond this, ascertain line amplifier requirements? The main power requirement is 90 to 265 volts AC, 50/60 Hz, 300 watts. How reliable is the power supply? An uninterruptible power supply backup may need to be considered. Third party insurance, e.g. in the event of a dislodged antenna causing injury. Storage of sub-systems and equipment prior to installation. Radiation hazard (RADHAZ) for two-way VSATS in which case frequency clearance of the site may be required from the Post, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT) Authorities. Interference - spurious emissions may cause problems with air navigation equipment or explosive devices. Survivability of the antenna: although the manufacturer will specify this, due regard must be paid to the support structure that holds it in place. Access for the maintenance of the equipment. Due regard should be considered on the environment extremes that the VSAT is expected to operate. Note:- The required ballast must be supplied by the user. This can be sandbags, concrete blocks or any other suitable medium providing the required weight. 106

107 3.1.2 Returned Equipment - MTBF It is believed that the quantity of hardware being returned to EADS Astrium is considerably less than during previous years. This is likely to be for a number of reasons including improved reliability of the 8467FS SADIS 1G receivers, increased uptake and use of the WAFS FTP service, and users waiting for the introduction of the SADIS 2G service. It is no longer recommended to users that malfunctioning SADIS 1G hardware should be returned to the UK for repair and then brought back into operational service. It is considered to be more financially prudent to invest in new SADIS 2G hardware rather than spend capital on maintaining an obsolete technology, particularly when the cost of a new 2G receiver and megapac is compared with the average cost of repair. MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) figures applicable to SADIS 2G receiving hardware are provided below. Comtech EFD SDM300A modem - 311,847 hours Radyne Comstream DD-2401L - 302,000 hours Satelcom MegaPAC ,486 hours (approximately 5 years) The performance of the new hardware will be monitored closely over the coming months to ensure that these MTBF figures supplied by the hardware vendors are accurate when deployed at real SADIS installation sites. 3.2 Service Interruptions a) Planned - During the past twelve months there have been 2 planned outages of short duration lasting for between five minutes and 20 minutes. These outages were scheduled to allow the testing of the ISDN facility between Washington (NWSTG) and Whitehill. These outages were brought to the attention of users prior to the event by the issuance of a SADIS administrative message (AHL: NOUK10 EGRR). b) Unplanned There have been no unplanned interruptions to the service during the past twelve months. 3.3 SIGNAL LOSS Sun/Satellite Conflicts All stations will experience a temporary signal degradation or outage for a few minutes a day in two defined periods a year due to the sun and the satellite being in line. With the aid of a software program the Help Desk facility is able to confirm the date and time of occurrence of signal degradation if the exact Latitude and Longitude are provided. 107

108 Administrative messages alerting users of the probable window of conflict can be issued, but the Help Desk can confirm the period more accurately if they are given the exact latitude and Longitude Data losses and re-sends Occasionally SADIS users contact the Met Office Helpdesk to request the re-send of various SADIS products. SADIS is a point to multi-point distribution service, which means that if a product is re-transmitted because a customer fails to receive it, the product is re-transmitted to all SADIS users. This can cause confusion. It is the policy of the Helpdesk to only agree to data re-sends if it can be demonstrated that the primary broadcast of the product(s) failed, and thus a product(s) failed to be received by all SADIS users. This is straightforward to ascertain because the Helpdesk staff has access to a SADIS workstation that is fed with live SADIS data. The increasing number of users having access to the WAFS FTP service should help to eliminate the need for data re-sends, unless the primary broadcast fails when they will be initiated as routine. Data packet losses via the broadcast continue to be extremely low. Data losses are normally associated with problems with end user hardware or software. Misalignment of the antenna (perhaps caused by exceptionally strong winds) has caused problems to a small number of users during the past few years. 108

109 Annex 1 Status of Implementation of SADIS, as of 4 February 2005 STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF SADIS (as of 4 February 2005) Note. Non-operational users are indicated in italics. No. ICAO Contracting State User Location Operational 1. Afghanistan National Meteorological Service Kabul Airport X 2. Algeria National Meteorological Service Dar-El-Beida X Armenia Hydromet Yerevan Airport X Vienna X Austria Austro Control Azerbaijan Air Navigation Service Baku Airport X Bahrain Civil Aviation Authority Bahrain International Airport X Bangladesh National Meteorological Service Dhaka Airport X Belgium Belgocontrol Brussels Airport X Belgium Eurocontrol Brussels X Benin National Meteorological Service Cotonou International Airport X Botswana National Meteorological Service Gaborone Airport X Bulgaria Air traffic services Sofia Airport X Burkina Faso National Meteorological Service Ouagadougou Airport X Burundi National Meteorological Service Cameroon National Meteorological Service Douala Airport X Central African Republic National Meteorological Service Chad National Meteorological Service N Djamena Airport X China CAAC Beijing Airport X China CAAC Guangzhou Airport X China Observatory Kowloon X China Observatory Kowloon X China Civil Aviation Authority Macau Airport X Congo National Meteorological Service Brazzaville Airport X Côte d'ivoire National Meteorological Service Abidjan Airport X 109

110 Croatia Air traffic services Zagreb Airport X Cyprus National Meteorological Service Nicosia X Czech Republic HydroMet Prague X Democratic People s Republic of Korea Democratic Republic of the Congo Civil Aviation Authority Pyongyang Airport X National Meteorological Service Kinshasa Airport X Denmark Meteorological Institute Copenhagen X Denmark SAS Airline Copenhagen X Egypt National Meteorological Service Cairo Airport X Equatorial Guinea National Meteorological Service Malabo Airport X Eritrea National Meteorological Service Estonia Air Navigation Service Tallinn Airport X Estonia National Meteorological Service Tallinn X Ethiopia National Meteorological Service Addis Ababa Airport X Ethiopia Ethiopian Airlines Addis Ababa Airport X Finland Air Navigation Services (Civil Aviation Administration) Helsinki-Vantaa Airport X Finland Air Navigation Services (Civil Aviation Administration) Tampere ACC X Finland Civil Aviation Authority Helsinki-Vantaa Airport X Gabon National Meteorological Service Libreville Airport X Gambia National Meteorological Service Banjul Airport X Georgia National Meteorological Service Tbilisi Airport X Germany EuroWings Dortmund Airport X Germany Lufthansa Frankfurt Airport X Germany UKW Baiersdorf X Ghana National Meteorological Service Accra Airport X Greece National Meteorological Service Piraeus Airport X Greece National Meteorological Service and Civil Aviation Authority New Athens International Airport Guinea National Meteorological Service Conakry Airport X X 110

111 Hungary National Meteorological Service Budapest X Hungary Hungaro Control Ferihegi Airport X India National Meteorological Service New Delhi X Iran (Islamic Republic of) National Meteorological Service Italy Air traffic services Milan Malpensa Airport X Italy Ingegnaria Software Industriale Latina X Italy Air traffic services Rome Fiumicino Airport X Jordan National Meteorological Service Queen Alia Airport X Kazakhstan Kazaviamet Kenya National Meteorological Service Nairobi Airport X Kenya National Meteorological Service Mombasa Airport X Kuwait National Meteorological Service Kuwait X Lao People s Democratic Republic Hydromet Unit Laos Airport X Lebanon National Meteorological Service Beirut Airport X Libyan Arab Jamahiriya National Meteorological Service Tripoli Madagascar National Meteorological Service Antananarivo/Ivato Airport X Malawi National Meteorological Service Malaysia National Meteorological Service Kuala Lumpur Airport X Maldives National Meteorological Service Male Airport X Mali National Meteorological Service Malta National Meteorological Service Luqa Airport X Mauritania National Meteorological Service Nouakchott Airport Mauritius National Meteorological Service Vacoas X Mongolia Civil Aviation Authority Ulan Bator Airport X Mozambique National Meteorological Service Maputo X Nepal National Meteorological Service Kathmandu Airport X Netherlands National Meteorological Service De Bilt X Netherlands SIGMEX Culemborg X 53. Netherlands Casses Ltd. Amsterdam F Niger National Meteorological Service Niamey Airport X 111

112 Niger National Meteorological Service EAMAC Training School X Nigeria National Meteorological Service Lagos Muhammed Airport X Oman National Meteorological Service Salalah Airport X Oman National Meteorological Service Seeb Airport X 56. Pakistan NMS Karachi X 57. Poland Lufthansa Gdansk X 58. Portugal Air Force Alfragide X Portugal National Meteorological Service Lisbon Airport X 59. Qatar Civil Aviation Authority Doha Airport X 60. Republic of Korea National Meteorological Service Incheon Airport X 61. Republic of Moldova Air traffic services Chisinau Airport X 62. Romania Air traffic services Bucharest Airport X 63. Russian Federation NMS Domodedovo Airport X Russian Federation NMS Sheremetyevo Airprt X Russian Federation NMS Vnukovo Airport X Rwanda National Meteorological Service Kigali X Saudi Arabia Saudi Airlines Jeddah Airport X Saudi Arabia Meteorological and Environment Jeddah Airport X Protection Agency (MEPA) Saudi Arabia Presidency of Meteorology and Jeddah Airport Environment (PME) Senegal National Meteorological Service Dakar Airport X Senegal ASECNA Headquarters, Dakar X Serbia and Montenegro National Meteorological Service Belgrade Airport X Serbia and Montenegro Air traffic services Belgrade Airport X Seychelles National Meteorological Service Victoria Airport X Sierra Leone National Meteorological Service South Africa Weather Bureau Pretoria X South Africa Netsys Pretoria X Sri Lanka National Meteorological Service Colombo Airport X Swaziland National Meteorological Service Mbabane X Sweden Civil Aviation Authority Arlanda Airport X X 112

113 Sweden Civil Aviation Authority Sundsvall Airport X Sweden Flygprestanda Malmö X 73. Switzerland National Meteorological Service Zurich X Switzerland National Meteorological Service Zurich X 74. Syrian Arab Republic National Meteorological Service Thailand National Meteorological Service Bangkok Airport X Thailand Thai Int. Airways Bangkok Airport X The former Yugoslav Republic National Meteorological Service Skopje of Macedonia 75. Togo National Meteorological Service - Lomé X ASECNA 76. Tunisia National Meteorological Service Tunis Airport X 77. Turkey National Meteorological Service Ankara Airport X 78. Uganda National Meteorological Service Entebbe Airport X Air traffic services Kyiv Ukraine United Arab Emirates National Meteorological Service Abu Dhabi Airport X. United Arab Emirates Civil Aviation Authority Abu Dhabi Airport X United Arab Emirates Civil Aviation Authority Abu Dhabi Airport X 80. United Arab Emirates Civil Aviation Authority Dubai Airport X United Kingdom British Midland Air East Midlands Airport X United Kingdom UKMO Bracknell X United Kingdom Aviation Briefing Bristol X United Kingdom Britannia Airways Luton Airport X United Kingdom Bytron East Midlands Airport X United Kingdom WSI Malvern X United Kingdom National Meteorological Service Benson X United Kingdom Bradford University Bradford X United Kingdom Averist Manchester F United Republic of Tanzania National Meteorological Service Dar Es Salaam X Viet Nam Civil Aviation Authority Hanoi X Viet Nam National Meteorological Service Ho Chi Min City X 113

114 83. Yemen Civil Aviation Authority Sanaa Airport X 84. Zambia National Meteorological Service Lusaka X 85. Zimbabwe National Meteorological Service Harare International Airport X 114

115 4. DATA AVAILABILITY, TIMELINESS & SOURCE 4.1 Data Availability Summary of Administrative Messages issued between April 2004 and March The number of SADIS administrative messages issued between April 2004 and March 2005 totalled 18. This is a decrease of 2 on the number issued during the same period last year. This decrease can largely be attributed to stability of the broadcast infrastructure. Administrative messages issued under headings NOUK10, 11, 13, 31 and NOBX99 are summarised below. Admin Messages issued between April 2004 and March 2005 by message type SADIS USER GUIDE 0 New charts and products 8 Planned Outages 2 Unplanned Outages 0 Backup Test Notification 6 Misc 2 Admin Messages issued between April 2003 and March 2004 by message type SADIS USER GUIDE 0 New charts and products 4 Planned Outages 5 Unplanned Outages 0 Backup Test Notification 3 Misc 10 The approved ADMIN message headers automatically routed to SADIS included: NOUK10 EGRR generally used to advise on model or product difficulties. This is the preferred bulletin header for general administration messages. NOUK 11 EGRR generally advice messages (engineering outages etc). NOUK13 EGRR - SADIS user Guide Updates (ICAO can only authorise these messages). NOUK31 EGGY - NATS Advisory messages (none have been seen at the SADIS up-link). NOBX99 EBBR - European OPMET DATA bank Catalogue UPDATES. PLUK30 EGRR PLUK31 EGRR PLUK32 EGRR PLUK33 EGRR 115

116 PLUK34 EGRR The above PL series have been reserved for any graphical ADMIN messages but users would be alerted and directed from a NOUK10 EGRR message Administrative Messages Issued by SADIS Gateway One of the important functionalities of the SADIS Gateway is to notify SADIS users when OPMET reports from a configurable list of aerodromes are not available to the SADIS provider for uplink onto the satellite. These notifications are made by the automatic issuance of SADIS Gateway administrative messages which have a header NOUK32 EGGY. Additional bulletins are issued by operators of the SADIS Gateway as necessary to request the re-send of missing bulletins and to inform users of ad-hoc problems. These bulletins and the headers assigned to them are summarised below. NOUK32 EGGY NOUK33 EGGY NOUK34 EGGY NATS advisory messages, Automatic SADIS Monitor Messages (see below) NATS advisory messages, Manually generated by SADIS Gateway Operators for SADIS users informing them of the nature of a problem NATS advisory messages, Manually generated by SADIS Gateway Operators for data providers and communications centres requesting information on missing data. In order to make it easier for SADIS users to identify if a particular aerodrome or bulletin is missing, the bulletins and aerodromes are ordered alphabetically in the notifying administrative message. A LAST RECEIVED AT time is provided for each aerodrome or bulletin that is the subject of an alarm in an administrative message. Examples are shown below. Example 1 Bulletin Message NOUK32 EGGY SADIS GATEWAY MONITOR BULLETINS NOT RECEIVED FCHJ20 FAPR LAST RECEIVED AT Z FCJH32 ESSA LAST RECEIVED AT Z FTHJ20 FAPR LAST RECEIVED AT Z FTJH32 ESSA LAST RECEIVED AT Z 116

117 SAKL23 EGLL LAST RECEIVED AT Z SAOS31 EGLL LAST RECEIVED AT Z END OF MESSAGE Example 2 Aerodrome Message NOUK32 EGGY SADIS GATEWAY MONITOR AERODROME DATA NOT RECEIVED EGNT SA LAST RECEIVED AT Z FAPR SA LAST RECEIVED AT Z FAPR FC LAST RECEIVED AT Z KJFK FT LAST RECEIVED AT Z END OF MESSAGE Example 3 Advisory Messages for SADIS Users NOUK33 EGGY SADIS GATEWAY MONITOR FOLLOWING AN INVESTIGATION THE STATION/S BELOW IS/ARE UNAVAILABLE DUE TO PROBLEMS AT THE REPORTING STATION/S KJFK END OF MESSAGE NOUK33 EGGY SADIS GATEWAY MONITOR FOLLOWING AN INVESTIGATION THE STATION/BULLETIN BELOW IS UNAVAILABLE DUE TO PROBLEMS AT THE BULLETIN COMPILING CENTRE. LIMM END OF MESSAGE NOUK33 EGGY SADIS GATEWAY MONITOR FOLLOWING AN INVESTIGATION, THE IS A COMMS FAILURE BETWEEN EGGY AND WSSS THIS WILL AFFECT ALL BULLETINS FROM ASIA/PAC REGION. END OF MESSAGE Example 4 Advisory Message for Data Providers/Comms Centres NOUK34 EGGY SADIS GATEWAY MONITOR WE HAVE NOTICED THE FOLLOWING STATIONS ARE NOT AVAILABLE PLEASE INVESTIGATE AND REPORT BACK TO EGGY (Address to be confirmed). 117

118 RKSS END OF MESSAGE SIGWX Chart Areas i. High-level WAFS SIGWX (SWH) (FL ) chart areas: B,C, D, E, G, H and K are produced by WAFC London. Examples of WAFS SIGWX charts generated by WAFC London are shown in the Annex to Chapter 4. ii. Medium-level WAFS SIGWX (SWM) (FL100 to FL450) SIGWX charts produced by WAFC London: EUR, MEA, ASIA SOUTH., produced by WAFC Washington: NAT. iii. High-level WAFS SIGWX chart areas A (Americas), H (NAT), I (North Pacific), J (South Polar), M (North Pacific) and F (South Pacific) are produced by WAFC Washington. Examples of these are shown in the annex. All T.4 SIGWX charts are distributed on SADIS as soon as they are made available to the Met Office message switch FROST from the two WAFC production centres WAFS GRIB-1 Data The figures included in the table below apply to the message switch that feeds data to SADIS, and indicates that the 90% and 95% availability for the T+24 maximum wind field (used as a control) is almost always available before 0410/1610 UTC. Figures for the dissemination of 0600 and 1800 UTC model GRIB are not currently available UTC 1200 UTC < HH+ 04:05 < HH+ 04:10 > HH+ 04:09 < 04:05 < 04:10 > 04:09 < 16:05 < 16:10 > 16: % 95% 90% 95% 90% 95% MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB AVERAGE EARLIEST LATEST MONTH T+06 03:04 T+06 15:01

119 T+12 03:09 T+12 15:07 T+18 03:15 T+18 15:13 T+24 03:15 T+24 15:13 T+30 03:21 T+30 15:19 T+36 03:21 T+36 15: Sources of OPMET Data The SADIS Gateway has been the provider of OPMET data for SADIS throughout the year. The Gateway sources its data via the AFTN and from the Met Office message switch, FROST. FROST is an integral part of the GTS and connected via a number of bilateral links with other national meteorological services (NMSs). 4.2 BUFR Encoded SIGWX Products A number of modifications and additions to the BUFR encoded bulletins were made during the period of this report. Most of these changes, which are detailed below in sections and 4.2.2, had a direct impact on the end user because changes of this kind cannot easily be implemented in a transparent way. This is considered an important point and a disadvantage of the BUFR format; changes to the format of the encoded bulletins necessitate a downstream change to user decode software. Managing the implementation of such changes is a challenging task and is likely to be a recurring theme. To assist with the implementation of future changes the WAFS Operations Group has approved some change criteria and a communication process that will be used to advise users of pending changes to the WAFS products. Future changes require three specific and significant actions: (1) an upgrade to WAFC production software (2) an upgrade to workstation manufacturers visualisation software, and then, (3) users need to upgrade their software. Effective coordination and communication with regard to all three steps is crucial. Particular problems arise when changes necessitate an upgrade to end user software. Changes of this kind require a significant amount of coordination between the WAFCs, software vendors and end users. It was recently agreed at the WAFSOPSG/2 meeting that a web site is established so that the status of implementing changes is tracked and made available to users from a single location. This web site will be accessible from the ICAO WAFSOPSG web site at URL At the time of completing this Management Report this web site has not yet been established. The web site will contain as a minimum the following criteria: summary of change, impact on end users includes the minimum actions required, comments from the WAFCs on the nature of this change: MAJOR, INTERMEDIATE or MINOR, implementation schedule, and up to date comments from the WAFCs on the status of implementation. See Annex 1 for a diagram that details the assessment process for new changes to the WAFS. 119

120 4.2.1 High level BUFR encoded SIGWX charts BUFR encoded high level SIGWX information produced by WAFC London is an operational product. The equivalent product produced by WAFC Washington is now available to WAFC London, and could be up-linked onto SADIS subject to demand and the approval of the SADIS Operations Group. Developers of BUFR encoded SIGWX information may wish to note that Version 2.5 of the BUFR Guidelines document is now available from the ICAO website - This document is also included in Annex 9 to chapter 2 of this Management Report. Version 2.5 of this document provides further information about the introduction of BUFR encoded SWM data, depiction of the new jet depth information and includes some clarifications on earlier guidance material. During March 2005 WAFC London introduced a number of changes to the BUFR encoded SWM schedule. We commenced use of descriptor (degree of turbulence) in association with data contained within bulletin JUCE00 EGRR which is used to encode Clear Air Turbulence (CAT). This descriptor replaced that was previously used. This change affected all users of SWH BUFR who were advised to contact their software vendor with the intention of receiving a software upgrade. We changed the BUFR descriptor used for height in bulletin JUWE96 EGRR (SWH jetstreams). The original descriptor changed to descriptor This change affected all users of SWH BUFR who were also advised to contact their software vendor with the intention of receiving a software upgrade. We implemented a minor change to the message header information contained within BUFR bulletin JUVE00 EGRR (tropical cyclones, volcanoes, sandstorms, radiation events). This was required so that the heights listed within the header reflect the fact that the bulletin is equally applicable to SWH and SWM data. An example of the new message header is provided in the BUFR Guidelines document (V2.5). All of these changes were brought to the attention of users some months prior to implementation via the issue of SADIS administrative messages (NOUK10 EGRR). WAFC London was in position to provide developers with new BUFR decode software that was compliant with these changes by the end of January This new software was not backward compatible with earlier BUFR encoded bulletins Medium level BUFR encoded SIGWX charts The encoding sequence and schedule for SWM data was agreed by the two WAFCs during WAFC London issued its first set of test SWM BUFR during January 2005 in addition to an updated version of its BUFR decode software. 120

121 Guidelines were provided to the workstation vendors and other developers of workstation software about the correct use of this data through V2.5 of the BUFR Guidelines document. It is expected that distribution of operational BUFR encoded SWM data will commence in mid- April

122 Annex 1 - Assessment of Changes to the WAFS 122

123 Annex 2 to Chapter 4 Examples of SWH WAFS Charts 4-1 to 4-7 WAFS Charts: Area K (SIO), Area D (ASIA), Area E (INDOC), Area G (MID), Area H (NAT), Area C (AFI), Area B (EURSAM) (Produced by WAFC London) Examples of SWM/SWH Charts (FL100 to FL450) 4-8 to 4-11 Charts: EUR, MEA, ASIA SOUTH, NAT (Produced by WAFC London, except the NAT chart) Examples of SWH WAFS Charts 4-12 to 4-17 Charts covering ICAO regions Area A (The Americas), Area I (North Pacific), Area F (South Pacific), Area M (North Pacific), Area J (South Polar), and Area H (NAT). (Produced by WAFC Washington) 123

124 4-1 ICAO Region K SIO (Chart AHL: PGKE06 EGRR) 124

125 4-2 ICAO Region D Asia (Chart AHL: PGZE06 EGRR) 125

126 4-3 ICAO Region E INDOC (Chart AHL: PGGE06 EGRR) 126

127 4-4 ICAO Region G MID (Chart AHL: PGCE06 EGRR) 127

128 4-5 ICAO Region H NAT (Chart AHL: PGAE06 EGRR) 128

129 4-6 ICAO Region C AFI (Chart AHL: PGRE06 EGRR) 129

130 4-7 ICAO Region B - EUR/SAM (Chart AHL: PGSE06 EGRR) 130

131 4-8 ICAO Area EURO (Chart AHL: PGDE15 EGRR) 131

132 4-9 ICAO Area MEA (Chart AHL: PGCE15 EGRR) 132

133 4-10 ICAO Area Asia South (Chart AHL: PGZE15 EGRR) 133

134 4-11 ICAO Area H (NAT) (Chart AHL: PGNE15 KKCI) 134

135 4-12 ICAO Region A - The Americas (Chart AHL: PGEE07 KKCI) 135

136 4-13 ICAO Region I - North Pacific (Chart AHL: PGBE07 KKCI) 136

137 4-14 ICAO Area F South Pacific (Chart AHL: PGGE07 KKCI) 137

138 4-15 ICAO Area M North Pacific (Chart AHL: PGDE30 KKCI) 138

139 4-16 ICAO Area J South Polar (Chart AHL: PGJE07 KKCI) 139

140 4-17 ICAO Area H NAT (Chart AHL: PGAE07 KKCI) 140