Providing Reliable Detection of Hazardous Weather and Predictions

Challenge

The FAA NextGen program anticipates a significant growth in demand for air traffic services over the next couple decades. Since weather conditions can seriously restrict aircraft operations and levels of service available to system users, the manner by which weather is observed, forecast, disseminated, and used in decision-making is of critical importance.

Solution

Consolidated Storm Prediction for Aviation (CoSPA)
Researchers and engineers integrated a wealth of different forecasting datasets by focusing on the development of a single authoritative convective forecast system, covering both summer and winter storms. CoSPA integrates observation-based expert systems and numerical weather prediction model to provide seamless 0 – 8-hour forecasts of convective hazards.

Benefits

This FAA funded project is a collaborative effort NCAR, MIT-LL, NOAA-ESRL. Annual benefits to the national aviation system are estimated to be $27M.

Contact

Please direct questions/comments about this page to:

James Pinto

Deputy Director Science, Aviation Applications Program

email