Evaluating Experimental LAMP Ceiling and Visibility Products for Operational Implementation

The impacts from clouds, ceiling and visibility (C&V) consistently prove to be a major concern for aviation flight planning. Efforts to improve access to data providing enhanced observations and forecasts for meteorologists at local Weather Forecast Offices (WFO), Central Weather Service Units (CWSU), and other traffic planners have shown that operational users lack a standard product that houses the high-resolution model data which is necessary for their decision making. In considering the data that would be most beneficial to the operational users, research initiatives evolved to focus on improving the high-resolution Localized Aviation Model Output Statistic (MOS) Program (LAMP) data products.

Utilizing development from the National Weather Service (NWS) Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL), NOAA’s Aviation Weather Testbed (AWT), a research entity within the Aviation Weather Center (AWC), provides a platform to display new products for evaluating usefulness and thoughts for potential future operational implementation. The AWT provided an interactive display of high-resolution gridded LAMP analysis data over the San Francisco Airport (SFO) to assess short-term forecast consistency and accuracy. The target audience evaluated the usefulness of this product during the summer status months at SFO. Additionally, experimental LAMP forecasted probabilities of onset and cessation times of C&V at the core 30 airports were integrated into an experimental version of the AWC’s Terminal Area Forecast dashboard. Air traffic managers and aviation flight planners evaluated this product to provide feedback on how this could help increase knowledge of C&V impacts and timeliness at high traffic airports.

In collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aviation Weather Demonstrations and Evaluation (AWDE) team, the AWT evaluated both the aforementioned experimental products. The goal of these evaluations was to determine the utility and added value of both products by their intended users. This presentation will detail the experimental LAMP products that were evaluated, the evaluation design and early feedback, as well as the potential for future operational implementation of these products.

*This research is in response to requirements and funding by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the FAA.