Summer Experiment 2019

The Aviation Weather Center will host the 2019 Aviation Weather Testbed Summer Experiment August 19-23, 2019. The experiment will focus on three main evaluations: a continued evaluation of the expanded domain and improvements to the Graphical Forecasts for Aviation tool, an evaluation of experimental model guidance to decipher cloud layers for forecasting, and evaluating possible mid range convective guidance products for planning in the National Airspace System (NAS) for the next day and beyond.

The experiment kickoff is Monday, August 19th at 7:30 am with coffee and introductions. Daily activities begin around 8:00 am and conclude between 4:00 and 4:30 pm depending on weather.  Friday the 23rd will be a half day ending at 12 noon.  Monday-Thursday there will be lunchtime seminars on varying topics.

Pilots interested in helping evaluate new weather tools, please contact us for more information.


Experiment Design

The 2019 AWT Summer Experiment will largely focus on the evaluation of experimental and prototype products and services to support aviation planning in the NAS. More specific details and tasks will be presented at the time of experiment.  Below is an overview of what can be expected at each desk.

  • Evaluation of the experimental expanded Graphical Forecasts for Aviation (GFA) tool

    The Graphical Forecasts for Aviation (GFA) (www.aviationweather.gov/gfa) will soon be expanded operationally to include the western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea. In addition to the expanded domain, AWC has already implemented new features as a result of last year’s experiment, and is seeking user feedback on their utility. The AWT will also be demonstrating additional expansions over much of the Pacific, including Hawaii, and north into Alaska where user feedback will be critical.  The FAA's Aviation Weather Demonstration and Evaluation (AWDE) services group will be interacting with end-users during this week-long experiment.
  • Demonstration and evaluation of experimental 3D cloud guidance

    AWC has spent the last several years working to enhance forecasting of cloud layers for use in Digital Aviation Services (DAS) grid production, as well as the GFA. While past experiments have focused on the grid editing and collaborative forecast process, this year AWT will be doing a more quantitative evaluation of the guidance that is used in the grids themselves. In addition, AWT participants will have the opportunity to look at experimental cloud guidance from other numerical models including the RTMA 3-D, the NBM, and HRRR-E.

  • Evaluation of possible mid-range convective guidance products

    National aviation traffic planning is increasingly looking at the next day and beyond to better get ahead of potential impacts before they start affecting the NAS.  Participants will have the opportunity to provide feedback and look at possible products to serve the needs of Planning, Execution, Review, Training and Improvement (PERTI) planning.

Data Sets and Decision Support Tools 

The following is a list of the experimental model and observation data sets and GOES-16 products that will be available for the experiment. 
  • GFA Expansion: https://testbed.aviationweather.gov/gfa
  • Experimental Model Data:  HRRRX (v4), HRRR-Ensemble, FV3, NBM (v3.2), RTMA-3D
  • Observational Data:  GOES-17 and GOES-16 derived products, RU-RTMA, RTMA
Brown Bag Seminar Topics 
 
Please check back for details. 

Lunch, Group Dinners, and other Activities 
  • Monday through Thursday during the experiment lunch there will be the option to order food since we will be doing brownbag seminars during lunch. 
    ***PLEASE BRING $$ CASH $$ IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ORDER FOOD.
  • There will be a group dinner Wednesday, August 21st, location TBD.
Remote Testbed Links (restricted access)
Experiment Evaluation Forms
  • Updated evaluation forms will be posted here
Experiment Blogs

Local Area Information Links 

HotelsOther Information