Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS)

National Center for Atmospheric Research

“Applying innovation and technology to bring current atmospheric research to the public, while creating the internet’s best aviation weather resource.”

THE ADDS TEAM MISSION

Improving Aviation Performancethrough Weather ScienceThe Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS) is well known within the aviation community for its innovative, user-friendly methods of presentation. Since 1996, pilots, dispatchers, the military, airlines, and airports have benefited from increased weather awareness because of the comprehensive weather information available on ADDS.

This service, developed with FAA funding and operated by the NWS, provides free on-line aviation weather information at http://aviationweather.gov/adds

New products, features, and functions were developed for ADDS and made available for user access on the Experimental ADDS website operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Research Application Laboratory (RAL), until final transition to operational ADDS.

New weather models and advanced information technology are helping aviation weather researchers learn and understand more about the atmosphere. This knowledge is being used to develop new aviation weather diagnosis and prediction tools to improve aviation safety and efficiency. Significant advancements are being made in the detection and prediction of visibility, ice, snow, thunderstorms, and turbulence.

New weather models and advanced information technology are helping aviation weather researchers learn and understand more about the atmosphere.

The Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) toolwas created to provide flight categories and low-altitudemeteorological variables to HEMS personnel. It graphicallydisplays obscuration of visibility over a given area along with the resulting flight categories, which are visual flight rules (VFR), marginal visual flight rules (MVFR), instrument flight rules (IFR), and low instrument flight rules (LIFR). (See figure below.)

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ADDS display of winds aloft.

The Helicopter Emergency Medial Services (HEMS) toolon ADDS, showing the Washington DC area.

ADDS in the FutureADDS has been designed to provide reliable data services today and into the future. The Flight Path Tool and HEMS applications rely on the same infrastructure. Those tools allow all of the weather products available on the website to be overlaid on a rich GIS basemap which includes navaids, aviation facilities, and even street detail.

Through the FAA's Common Support Services-Weather (CSS-Wx) program, ADDS-like NextGen data services will fully support trajectory-based operations. Future enhancements will include new forecast products for convection, global winds, flight tracks, Aeronautical Information Exchange Model (AIXM) data, geo-encoded data services, and even more interactive web displays.

ADDS was developed for the FAA by the NCAR Research Applications Laboratory (RAL), and is hosted operationally by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), and the Aviation Weather Center (AWC).

AwardsThe ADDS program received the Government Technology Leadership Award, Government Executive Magazine; November 2002. This prestigious award is given annually to the winners of a government-wide competition that includes a number of high-tech organizations such as NASA, DARPA, DOE, and the FAA. ADDS also won NCAR’s Outstanding Scientific and Technological Accomplishment Award in 1999.

Technology TransferAt the heart of RAL’s mission is technology transfer - providing high quality science and technology products and tools to help solve societal problems. ADDS is an excellent example of this type of technology transfer for aviation safety decisions. Development of improved capabilities for the automated forecasting of aircraft icing, thunderstorms, snowfall affecting airport ground operations, turbulence, ceiling and visibility, and oceanic weather continues to be RAL’s major activity.

ADDS has been a valuable tool to the aviation community since September 1996. ADDS provides text, digital, and graphical forecasts, analyses, and observations of aviation-related weather variables.

ProductsSome of the products supported by the National Weather Service on the ADDS website are:

Operational products• Analysis and prognostic charts • Graphical wind and temperature charts • Convective weather forecasts • Current and Forecast Icing Potential • Graphical Turbulence Guidance• Ceiling, Visibility, and Flight Category

Observational products• METARs • TAFS• PIREPS• AIR/SIGMETs• Satellite• Radar

For More Information, Contact:Matthias SteinerNational Center for Atmospheric ResearchResearch Applications LaboratoryPO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000303-497-2720 303-497-8401 faxmsteiner@ucar.edu www.ral.ucar.edu

The ADDS web site handles a high volume of users who range from private pilots to military flight planners and include many of

the major US airlines.

Forecast products• Convection• Turbulence• Icing• Winds/Temps• Prog Charts• TAF / FA

The Flight Path Tool allows you toview weather along any custom flight route.