Meeting User Needs: Identifying Weather Attributes for ATM Decision Making

The ATM-Weather Integration (AWI) Concept indicates that weather requirements flow from the Air Traffic Management (ATM) community to the weather community. However, that is easier said than done. What the meteorological community often provides is a best guess at what is needed by the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and ATM communities. Likewise, what the ATC and ATM communities often request is a best guess at what the meteorological community has available. The AWI Concept also says that the Weather and ATM Communities must work together to turn relevant weather data into impact. How do we identify/define the qualities of the “relevant weather data” for ATM decision making? In other words, how do we help the Weather and ATM communities work together to appropriately define the attributes of the needed weather data? The Operational Weather Requirements Analysis (OWRA) process is a decision-based analysis process which looks at operational decisions in the face of weather across both the planning and flight operation domains. Through decision-based analysis and discussions with operational Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) weather needs and attributes are determined for successful decision making in the near and Mid-Term time frames.