To anticipate aircraft diversions, localizing and nowcasting thunderstorms is of utmost importance. Furthermore, in order not to overload air traffic controllers, they must be provided with an easy-to-use, already interpreted and formatted-as-usual information.
A project will be presented that tries to address these needs. Information from the French weather radar network are merged with those from the lightning detection network of MŽtŽo-France to identifiy thunderstorms. The movement of convective cells is then diagnosed thanks to an algorithm based on radar images time series. This allows nowcasting of the convective cells by simple extrapolation, allowing for curved trajectories. This information in presented on a customized terminal for air traffic controllers using the same geographical projection and information as the one used with aircraft surveillance radars.
The outcomes from a first experiment with both the en-route air traffic control center in Paris-Orly and the approach of Paris-Roissy will be presented. The correlation between convective cells and aircraft diversions, which is a yet ill-characterized problem, will be emphasized
The 8th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology