Page 32 - World Airnews Magazine July Edition 2020

FEATURE

LOSS OF AIRCRAFT DATA

TAKING A TOLL ON WEATHER

FORECASTING

COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT ARE A Service’s Global Forecast System, or GFS
FORECASTER’S SECRET WEAPON model, and the world-leading European
ecently , computer models For years, thousands of airliners and cargo model, run by the European Centre for Me-
Rprojected that southern Florida planes have been involved in a side gig that dium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in
would see a deluge of several inches few passengers or package shippers have Reading, England.

of rain. Such abundant rainfall would been privy to: gathering and transmitting At the global level, networks that vacuum

have been a sharp departure from the weather data that’s then used for improv- up data from planes flying in Europe, Asia
unusual heat and dry conditions that ing weather forecasts issued worldwide. and South America have helped to ensure

have gripped that part of the state so far To gather crucial information for operat- an ever-growing flow of data that’s benefit-

this year. ing the plane itself, such as determining its ed modelling centres worldwide, boosting

In the end, though, Miami ended up airspeed and motion relative to the ground, model skill and forecast accuracy.

seeing just 0.26 inches of rain, and the instruments on an airplane’s nose - they However, with the paucity of flights in

medium as well as shorter-term model resemble pointy, metal needles sticking out the air now, the pandemic has disrupted

projections turned out to be a complete of the fuselage, pointed forward, into the that data flow, turning it from a fire hose

bust. A forecast miss of such a magnitude airstream - measure the characteristics of to more of a trickle. Meteorologists don’t

is relatively unusual, and it prompted the air mass around them. know exactly how much of an impact that’s

some meteorologists to wonder whether This includes the wind direction and having on forecast skill.
missing data because of the coronavirus speed, air pressure, temperature and, in In the United States alone, airlines are

pandemic might be to blame. Normally some cases, humidity as well. operating skeletal schedules and have

gathered by commercial aircraft, much of Government programs run in the United opted to store much of their fleets rather

the data has stopped flowing since many States, such as the efforts of the National than continuing to lose money by flying

flights have been cancelled. Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, near-empty planes. According to the trade

The answer, experts say, is that it’s along with international agencies and private group Airlines for America, U.S. airlines
unlikely that certain missing data was companies have tapped into some of this idled 3,162 planes, which accounts or 51

the cause, but it’s also unlikely that the data to pipe it into computer models that percent of their fleet, as of May 10.

data shortfall is not having some negative help meteorologists forecast the weather. Airports such as Tulsa International,

effect on forecasts. This includes the National Weather Kansas City International and Pinal Airpark in
World Airnews | July 2020
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