Successes of the WMO RA IV Expert Team for Aviation Services

Submitted by: Lora Wilson¹, Michael Graf², Katie Deroche¹, Heather Smith³, Rodney Martínez ⁴

1. NOAA/National Weather Service; Member of WMO RA-IV Expert Team for Aviation Services
2. NOAA/National Weather Service; Co-chair of WMO RA-IV Expert Team for Aviation Services
3. Meteorological Service of Canada; Co-chair of WMO RA-IV Expert Team for Aviation Services
4. WMO Representative for North America, Central America, and the Caribbean; Member Services and Development Department

Conference or Symposium: 24th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology, Matthew Strahan session on International Collaboration in support of Global Aviation Safety and Efficiency

Abstract Title: Successes of the WMO Regional Association IV Expert Team for Aviation Services

Abstract:

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Regional Association (RA) IV (North America, Central America, and the Caribbean) established during its 18th session in February 2021, two Regional Committees on Infrastructure, Services, and a Hydrological Coordination Panel with their corresponding expert teams. This paper describes the evolution, lessons learned, main achievements, and good practices of the Expert Team for Aviation Services (ET-AVI).

The ET-AVI defined its action plan, based on the regional priorities identified by RA IV members and a further interactive dialogue and consultation process among the experts. As part of the strategy to move forward, the ET-AVI invited the North American, Central American, and Caribbean (NACC) regional office of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) into its discussions.

So far, the ET-AVI has held 18 coordination meetings and organized three technical regional webinars with a remarkable participation of members from inside and outside the region. These webinars covered operational and scientific aspects such as Quality Management Systems (QMS), the ICAO Meteorological Information Exchange Model (IWXXM), the Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay (AMDAR) program, Meteorological Watch Office (MWO) coordination, and calibration capacities to name a few.

The team conducted comprehensive surveys about the baseline on competencies, staff, operational capabilities, and challenges with the provision of aviation services, promoted technical information resources, and published two newsletters all translated to Spanish, English, and French allowing the exchange of practical information to the aeronautical meteorology community and related stakeholders.

The process has demonstrated so far, the cost-effectiveness of combining strong commitment, leadership, and promoting a collaborative environment that has maximized the technical assistance, support, and guidance among members with diverse capabilities overcoming the language barrier.

The RA IV ET-AVI continues consolidating a regional collaborative platform and becoming a suitable mechanism to support more complex capacity-building activities for the benefit of all its members.