Introduction Forecast Research Facility Demonstration Systems Development Aviation Modernization International Publications Visitors Acronyms and Terms Contact The Editor Design: Wilfred von Dauster

Objectives The Aviation Division collaborates with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Weather Service (NWS), the Departments of Defense and Transportation, and the Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan. The product of these collaborations is an improved weather forecasting and visualization capability for use by military and civilian forecasters, air traffic controllers, and air traffic managers, airline dispatchers, and general aviation pilots. More opportunities to develop better weather products now exist because of new observing systems, recent advances in understanding the atmosphere, and higher performance computing capabilities. The division comprises three branches: Aviation Forecasts: Requirements, Applications, and Quality Assessment – Defines requirements for generating and disseminating aviation weather products; develops the capability to assess the quality (Figure 50) of products generated automatically and by aviation weather forecasters, and the "guidance" forecasters use to generate those products. Aviation Systems: Development and Deployment – Manages enhancement, testing, fielding, and supporting of advanced meteorological workstations for the NWS Aviation Weather Center (AWC); develops new Aviation Digital Data Service Web products for use by the aviation community. Advanced Computing – Assures the continuing improvement of high-resolution numerical weather analysis and prediction systems through research and development in high- performance computing. In addition to their own activities, the Aviation Division provides funds for other FSL divisions to assist in achieving these goals. Figure 50. The Real-Time Verification System is used to test aviation related algorithms in real time, as in this integrated turbulence forecast derived from RUC-2, valid at 1200 UTC on 25 May 1999.