The 4-D Weather Data Cube is a critical part of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Approximately, 70% of air traffic delays are attributable to weather impacting the American economy in excess of $40B annually. Of these delays, approximately two thirds could be prevented with greater access to better weather information. The 4-D Weather Data Cube is one of the leading activities of NextGen to provide better access to critical weather data for automated decision making for air traffic management (ATM). It will provide seamless and timely access to environmental data critical to ATM decision making and aircraft operators.

This paper describes the scope, objectives, schedule and activities necessary to build the 4-D Weather Data Cube. The 4-D Weather Data Cube is a multi-agency Federal- Industry partnership that will build a virtual 4-D weather data base containing the necessary information to support aviation decision making. This paper also highlights the Single Authoritative Source, a subset of the 4-D Weather Data Cube that will be used for all “official” ATM decisions. Much of the near term work is centered on delivering an Initial Operating Capability in 2013.

Building and populating the 4-D Weather Data Cube will be a challenging activity that will extend through the year 2022. Many of the requirements for environmental data exceed the current state of the science and will require robust research and transition to operations phases to fully realize the promise of NextGen.