Aeronautical Meteorology Programme

Aeronautical meteorology services are governed jointly by the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) and WMO. The two organizations work together to establish and implement a global regulatory framework for the National Meteorological Services of Members to use as a basis for meteorological service provision in a highly coordinated and interoperable manner.

The Aeronautical Meteorology Programme (AeMP) coordinates all WMO aeronautical meteorology related activities and ensures an effective liaison with ICAO by supporting the development of meteorological techniques and practices for the provision of services based on user-identified requirements. This coordination work covers:

• the establishment of basic meteorological networks and facilities required for effective provision of meteorological service to international air navigation;
• the setting of standards on aeronautical climatological information;
• the defining of qualification and competency standards for aeronautical meteorological personnel; and
• the advancement of science and technology in support of growing demand for interoperable, fit-for-purpose, quality information and services by the aviation transport sector.

The Programme also provides targeted capacity development to Members, particularly in developing and least developed countries, in order to assit them in achieving international requirements for quality, competency and performance of aeronautical meteorological service. The Aeronautical Meteorology Programme also develops guidance material, best practice models, documentation and training for Members in order to assist them in meeting requirement standards. In this regard, the Programme promotes the establishment of fair, equitable and transparent cost-recovery mechanisms for sustainable and high quality aeronautical meteorological services.

The Aeronautical Meteorology Programme (AeMP) ensures effective coordination within WMO in following up the recommendations of the Conjoint ICAO/WMO Meteorology Divisional Meeting. To that end, the Programme coordinates the meteorological aspects of the ICAO Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP) and its Aviation System Block Upgrades (ASBU) methodology. The Global Air Navigation Plan covers the broad spectrum of institutional, regulatory, technological and operational aspects of the envisaged performance improvements in support of the “One Sky” global Air Traffic Management (ATM) concept with a horizon of the year 2028 and beyond.

Among these aspects are the integration of the meteorological information in the System-Wide Information Management (SWIM), the enhancement of the international facilities like the World Area Forecast System (WAFS) and the International Airways Volcano Watch (IAVW), and the development of new generation of services, to support safe, effective and efficient Air Traffic Management and Trajectory Based Operations (TBO). The ultimate goal is to mitigate the impacts of the “space weather”.

The Conjoint ICAO/WMO Meteorology Divisional Meeting of 2014 recommended that the Aeronautical Meteorology Programme investigate the impacts of climate variability and change on global aviation operations.

The constituent body providing technical guidance to the Programme is the Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology (CAeM). The Commission meets in session every four years and, occasionally, conjointly with the ICAO Meteorology Divisional Meeting (the latest one took place in Montreal, Canada, in July 2014). The last session (15th) of Commission in 2014 established a new structure, including a Management Group (CAeM-MG), and the following expert teams:

• Expert Team on Communication, Coordination and Partnership (ET-CCP);
• Expert Team on Aviation, Science and Climate (ET-ASC);
• Expert Team on Education, Training and Competency (ET-ETC);
• Expert Team on Governance (ET-GOV);
• Expert Team on Information and Services for Aviation (ET-ISA);
• Task Team on Quality Management Systems (TT-QMS).

The work of Commission and its subsidiary bodies is supported by the Aeronautical Meteorology Division, part of the Weather and Disaster Risk Reduction Services (WDS) Department.

WMO established the Aeronautical Meteorology Programme (AeMP) to mainstream organizational activities related to aviation and to ensure effective coordination with partners in order to further the application of meteorology to aviation. To this end, WMO and ICAO established working arrangements, specifying roles and responsibilities within the two organizations, to ensure efficiency and avoid duplication.