Abstract
Abstract. From 1 May 2017 until 15 June 2017, the E-AMDAR operational service from EUMETNET disseminated more commercial aircraft data than usual on the Global Telecommunication System (GTS). Météo-France specifically requested the implementation of such a trial. It lead to an increase in the number of aircraft data over France, especially vertical profiles (ascents and descents). Though Météo-France routinely buys additional data with respect to the basic E-AMDAR service, this trial aimed at assessing the potential of French airlines to produce further data in collaboration with E-AMDAR and yield an observation network as dense as possible. This was the opportunity to check the impact of these additional data on forecast skill scores of the limited area and convective scale model AROME-France. A data denial experiment (OSE) was carried out on May 2017, by removing E-AMDAR profiles (about 14 % of data) to mimic the routine observing system. The reference was the operational AROME-France 3D-Var that assimilated all extra data in real-time. However, no dedicated flag allowed to distinguish supplementary data from routine ones. Therefore, a necessary step of the experimental methodology was to identify which data profile could be considered as supplementary. The examination of forecast skill scores from the denial experiment showed that the impact of the removal of the additional observations is rather small and mixed, depending upon the parameter of interest, the atmospheric level, and the forecast range. The case studies done did not exhibit any particular additional skill for the suite with augmented observations. The experimental set-up is described and the results are discussed on the basis of forecast scores, including precipitation scores. Finally, a number of recommendations are given for a more optimal assimilation of AMDAR data in the AROME-France model.
Highlights
In Europe, the Economical Interest Group (EIG) EUMETNET collects and disseminates in-flight aircraft measurements, known as AMDAR observations, through the E-AMDAR service
A similar issue holds for en-route data as the authors are not fully sure that the E-AMDAR trial did not trigger a slight increase of en-route data above France
The E-AMDAR programme allowed to significantly increase the number of aircraft data above France in May and June 2017. The impact of these additional data has been assessed in the AROME kilometre-scale numerical weather prediction (NWP) system
Summary
In Europe, the Economical Interest Group (EIG) EUMETNET (http://eumetnet.eu/, last access: 8 July 2019) collects and disseminates in-flight aircraft measurements, known as AMDAR observations, through the E-AMDAR service. EUMETNET is supported by its European member states. EAMDAR produces anonymous observations from commercial aircraft. In 2017, it included 14 airlines, among which KLM, Air France, British Airways, SAS, Lufthansa and EasyJet. Figure 1 shows a simplified E-AMDAR flight with the 3 typical flight phases (ascent, en-route and descent) and the corresponding data collection frequencies. Pace and constraints on data transmission are shown on the picture
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