The Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS)

VOLUME 7, NUMBER 2, 1994 THE LINCOLN LABORATORY JOURNAL 449 opment Program, will provide such improved weather information by integrating data from various FAA and National Weather Service (NWS) sensor and weather information systems. Figure 1 shows the major data sources for ITWS and some of the system’s principal users. Figure 1 emphasizes one of the important technological features of ITWS—the combining of knowledge from various sources to provide a suite of informational products on operationally significant weather in the airport terminal area. Historically, radar reflectivity from precipitation has been the principal source of information on storms in the terminal area, with information on airport surface winds, temperature, and humidity appearing on separate alphanumeric displays. However, thermodynamic factors (i.e., temperature and humidity), winds, and storm microphysical processes (e.g., the formation of ice crystals) are as important as radar reflectivity in determining the hazard level and time evolution of weather. Using the various data sources in a scientifically sound manner, ITWS can address the deficiencies discussed above by creating informational products that cannot be derived from the sensors individually. ITWS will meet its primary objective, to reduce delays, in two ways: directly, by providing information to FAA supervisors and traffic managers so that they can work more actively to achieve an efficient The Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS)