Meteorology in Continuous Descent Operations Rosalind Lapsley, EUMETNET EIG SESAR WP11.2 Leader 19 March 2013
Contents a) Why is meteorology important to CDO? b) What MET information is currently available? c) The EUMETNET Consortium s collaborative SESAR work under WP11.2 d) Future technologies being investigated within SESAR under nominal conditions under adverse conditions
MET s Impact on CDO Wind information will provide a more accurate representation of the actual descent profile timings for each aircraft to reach target points Wake vortex size and advection from preceding aircraft Hazardous weather in the TMA may require different routes to be considered, particularly CB/TCU or TS (severe convection, icing, hail) Improved accuracy of the 4D descent profile will assist in managing dependencies between all stakeholders.
Current MET Information Provision of aviation MET information is specified by ICAO Annex 3 (1948). Global wind forecasts for enroute phases provided by WAFC at a resolution of Temporally at 3 or 6 hrs Horizontally at ~120km Vertically at ~1-2km At lower levels nearer the airport, forecasts are provided by the national MET authority (usually NMS).
Example WAFC Wind forecast FL050
Is the Current MET Information adequate? Limitations are: An oversimplification of how the wind may vary throughout the approach, particularly Wind shear i.e. changes in speed and/or direction by altitude Smaller scale (or moving) features such as fronts, sea breezes, nocturnal/low jets etc. Low level (<5000FT) disturbances caused by surface features (hills, valleys, coast, buildings etc.) Access to real-time observations of all weather throughout \the approach.
SESAR WP11.2 Meteorological Information Services Aims to use existing operational capabilities of the MET community to develop specific services (applications or tools) for aviation stakeholders, such as CDO. and Develop new interoperable capabilities when user requirements necessitate this approach. These tools will integrate tailored MET information with industry information, to create a specific solution or service. This is very much a collaborative approach.
Who or What is EUMETNET EIG Is a grouping of 29 national European MET Services which provides a framework that allows weather services to: work together, share ideas and best practice share the costs of major infrastructure investments provides a collective voice for its Members organise co-operative programmes in areas such as observing systems, data processing, basic forecasting products, research and development and training http://www.eumetnet.eu/ for more information.
Introducing the EUMETNET Consortium EUMETNET EIG is the coordinator of a consortium which includes the following participants.
Improved WIND information for CDO Current forecast resolution capability far exceeds ICAO standards Combine real-time observations from landing aircraft with the model to create a high resolution & high frequency tailored nowcast for CDO (>15min refresh, 500m horizontal) This approach has been demonstrated for CDO by Met Office (UK) and Avtech, at Arlanda
Improved Fuel Efficiency Figure 2. Wind profile for a test flight during the MINT project on 17 July 2009 at Stockholm Arlanda airport. The forecast winds provided by the Aventus system are shown in green, with the forecast winds provided by the previous flight planning system, RODOS, shown in blue. The observed winds are shown in red (reproduced from Heiman (private communication)). High resolution MET data (winds and temperature) ingested into on-board FMS in CDAs at Stockholm Arlanda. High resolution wind data was used to select CDAs which minimised track miles and to find the optimal point to start the descent. Average reduction in fuel consumption: 165 kg per flight (compared to control test flights which flew convectional stepped approaches)
Next Stages within SESAR (part 1) Not all aircraft are equipped with the AMDAR observational equipment used in the Arlanda trial WP11.2 will examine using Mode-S transmissions to extract the relevant wind information from landing aircraft and use this as input to the nowcast modelling. ADVANTAGES: Frequently updated wind/temp forecasts (<15 min) of high resolution (>500m) information Could also be used for wake vortex separation calculations
MET in support of Required Time of Arrival operations. Flight time error due to wind forecasts is the difference between the observed flight time (calculated from AMDAR observations) and the forecast flight time. With current MET capability the average flight time error in the enroute winds using a 6 hour forecast is 31 seconds (based on analysis of 37000 flights) -> current MET capability is good enough for use in Required Time of Arrival applications Using wind forecasts delivered by the AVTECH Aventus NowCast System with high resolution wind nowcast data from the WAFTAGE system developed by the UK Met Office, the most advanced aircraft were able to meet a CTA with 30 second accuracy 90% of the time. GIE/EIG Crown EUMETNET, copyright Registered Met Office Number 0818.801.249 - RPM Bruxelles
Next Stages within SESAR (part 2) Integration of spatial awareness of hazardous weather to ATC. The following example is from a recent demonstration at CDG (Oct/Nov 2012) involving 3D weather radar composite technology to create a warning of severe convection affecting STARs/SIDs
Convection alarm (pink) at SFC
Convection alarm at SFC, local to CDG
Thank you any questions?
Contact Details Rosalind Lapsley WP11.2 Leader EUMETNET EIG Tel: +44 77 66 923 746 Email: rosalind.lapsley@eumetnet.eu Web: www.eumetnet.eu GIE EUMETNET Secretariat c/o L Institut Royal Météorologique de Belgique Avenue Circulaire 3 1180 Bruxelles, Belgique Tel: +32 (0)2 373 05 18 Fax: +32 (0)2 890 98 58 Email: info@eumetnet.eu Web: www.eumetnet.eu