The 4-D Weather Data Cube: Roadmap to 2022

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 improved weather information. The 4-D Weather Data Cube will provide better access to critical weather data to support automated decision making in air traffic management (ATM). It will provide seamless and timely access to environmental data critical to for all decision makers 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. However, we are building a robust inter-agency science roadmap that will define the R&D activities that will support challenging NextGen weather requirements.