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PNSWSH

 

Public Information Statement: Amended

National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC

1247 PM EDT Tue Sep 27 2011

 

To:       Subscribers

     Family of Services

     NOAA Weather Wire Service

     Emergency Managers Weather Information Network

     NOAAPORT

    Other NWS partners and NWS employees

 

From:      Joseph Facundo

           Chief, NWS Observing Systems Branch

 

Subject:   Amended: Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) for

           Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS)

           Software version 3.05 (v3.05)

 

Note:      The following changes have no direct impact on

           NOAA Weather Wire Service subscribers

 

Amended to include FAA training of Air Traffic Controllers and extend conclusion of OT&E to spring or summer of 2012.

 

The ASOS product improvement program will begin an OT&E on ASOS software v3.05 on or about October 3, 2011. The new v3.05 software load provides some 58 new functionalities to ASOS and includes 23 operational fixes to the current operational baseline v2.79D. The new capabilities will do the following:

 

- Help ASOS to meet the encoding requirements for METAR/SPECI

  reports as outlined in the Federal Meteorological Handbook

  No. 1 (FMH 1)

- Improve quality control logic for automated data, improve

  information provided in log files

- Add the reporting of ice accretion amounts

- Add the Ice Free Wind (IFW) sensor quality control algorithm

  Provide support for the Federal Aviation and Administration’s

  (FAA) Weather Sensor Processor (WSP) program.

- Add an Ice Accretion Remark on the 1 minute page and in the

  METAR and SPECI observations. The amount of ice accreting on

  a flat surface (planar icing), as estimated by the data from

  the freezing rain sensor, will be included in the remarks

  section of the METAR/ SPECI reports. The remark will have the

  format of Ihnnn, where h is the hourly time period, i.e.,

  1, 3 or 6 hours. The value nnn is the ice thickness

  accumulated to the nearest 0.01 inch. A toggle for the ice

  accretion remark to be included in the METAR/SPECI reports is

  on the PHYSICALS page (REVUE SITE PHYS).

 

The OT&E will be conducted in two phases. Phase 1 is scheduled to take place at 16 FAA service level D and O sites starting on or about October 3, 2011. Phase 2 is scheduled to take place at 26 FAA service level A, B, and C sites starting in the winter of 2011 2012. Phase 2 will start once the FAA trains the Air Traffic Controllers (ATC), and Contract Weather Observers (CWO’s) on the changes in v3.05.

 

The duration of the OT&E will be approximately 6 months, running through the winter months of 2011 2012. The OT&E will conclude sometime during the spring or summer of 2012. More detailed information on v3.05 software can be found at:

 

http://www.weather.gov/ops2/ops24/documents/asos_v3.htm

 

Phase 1: installation of ASOS v3.05 software at the following
16 sites beginning on or about 10/03/2011:

 

BFD  Bradford, PA

RME  Rome, NY

TAN  Taunton, MA

POR  Portage, AK

ANJ  Sault Ste. Marie, MI

WAL  Wallops Island, VA

GIF  Winter Haven, FL

ATT  Austin, TX

LOL  Lovelock, NV

OLS  Nogales, AZ

CLM  Port Angles, WA

 

U.S. Navy Sites:

 

KNAK  Annapolis, MD

KNGU  Norfolk NAS, VA

KNKT  Cherry Point MCAS, NC

KNBC  Beaufort MCAS, SC

KNIP – Jacksonville NAS , FL

 

 

Phase 2 (26 Sites) beginning sometime during the winter of 2011 2012:

 

HIO  Portland, OR

GKN  Gulkana, AK

JNU  Juneau, AK

FAI  Fairbanks, AK

DSM  Des Moines, IA

GRB  Green Bay, WI

PIA  Peoria, IL

SGF  Springfield, MO

TOP  Topeka, KS

BIS  Bismark, ND

COU  Columbia, MO

ACY  Atlantic City, NJ

CLE  Cleveland, OH

ORH  Worcestor, MA

PWM  Portland, ME

ITO  Hilo, HI

LIH  Lihue, HI

TRI  Bristol, TN

DFW  Dallas Ft. Worth, TX

TUL  Tulsa, OK

P68  Eureka, NV

PDT  Pendelton, OR

SLC  Salt Lake City, UT

TUS  Tucson, AZ

BFI  Boeing Field, MT

BIL  Billings, MT

 

For more information, please contact:

 

Joseph Facundo

NWS Observing Systems Branch

Silver Spring , MD 20910

Joseph.Facundo@noaa.gov

301 713 2093 ext.101

 

Public Information Statements are online at:

 

   http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm

 

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