An analysis and enhanced proposal of atmospheric boundary layer wind modelling techniques for automation of air traffic management

Abstract The air traffic management automation imposes stringent requirements on the weather models, in such a way that they should be able to provide reliable short-time forecasts in digital formats in almost real time. The atmospheric boundary layer is one of the regions where aircraft operation and coordination are critical and therefore atmospheric model performance is also vital. This paper presents conventional and innovative techniques to improve the accuracy in the forecasting of winds in the lower atmospheric layer, proposing mechanisms to develop better models including deterministic and stochastic simulations. Accuracy is improved by optimizing the grid, assimilating observations in cycling simulations and managing a number of ensemble members. An operation-driven post-processing stage helps to incorporate detailed terrain definitions and real-time observations without re-running the model. The improvements are checked against mesoscale weather simulations at different scales and a dedicated flight campaign. The results show good performance of the model without sensitively increasing the required throughput.