Disclaimer and Labeling
The Aviation Digital Data Service is operationally supported 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by the National Weather Service's Aviation Weather Center. Its use is unrestricted (meteorologists, dispatchers, GA and commercial pilots, ATC, etc.) as a supplementary source of weather information.
The Turbulence Page contains 5 sections.
- The top section contains the Graphical Turbulence Guidance product, version 2 (GTG-2), which depicts mid-level and upper-level clear air turbulence (CAT) from 10,000 feet to FL 450, with 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 12 hour forecasts. It does not provide turbulence analyses or forecasts below 10,000 ft MSL. GTG-2 is a Supplementary Weather Product. A Supplementary Weather Product is an aviation weather product that may be used for enhanced situational awareness. If utilized, a supplementary weather product must only be used in conjunction with one or more primary weather product (AIM 7-1-3).
- The second section contains a link to the Flight Path Tool, an interactive java tool which also contains the Graphical Turbulence Guidance product in a different display. Some options on the flight path tool include: overlaying other weather information, zooming to a specific geographic region, viewing a vertical cross section along a selected route of flight, and viewing GTG-2 information in 1000 ft intervals. However, images of turbulence below 10,000 ft MSL are not provided.
- The next section on the left, "Current Turbulence Advisories," is a graphical representation (which can be enlarged) of text AIRMETs and SIGMETs, which depicts the location of turbulence AIRMETs with solid green lines and turbulence SIGMETs with solid red lines. AIRMETs and SIGMETs are Primary Weather Products. A Primary Weather Product is an aviation weather product that meets all the regulatory requirements and safety needs for use in making flight related, aviation weather decisions (AIM 7-1-3).
- The next section on the right, Pilot Reports of Turbulence, is an image map containing links to regional GIF images depicting pilot reports. The images are re-created about every 15 minutes and depict location and severity of turbulence reported by pilots (PIREPs). One of seven different regions or the contiguous U.S. may be chosen. PIREPs are Primary Weather Products. PIREPs do not include most automated in situ reports.
- The last section contains a link to the In-Situ Turbulence viewer, which is an experimental product with restricted access. More information about the viewer and how to obtain access are available by following the link.
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