More MET reports from new aircraft joining the Hong Kong AMDAR programme

Since the start of the Hong Kong AMDAR programme in 2001, automatic downlinking of meteorological reports from aircraft has been providing the Observatory and the meteorological community with valuable wind and temperature data. The data quality was comparable to radiosonde data but at a much lower cost. Studies have proved that AMDAR data improves forecasting skills of numerical weather prediction models as well as support numerous weather forecasting applications.

With the unyielding support from Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon, the number of AMDAR-enabled aircraft leaps from 9 tails in January 2017 to 53 tails in December 2017, a dramatic increase after a breakthrough on the transmission method of AMDAR reports. The observations from the newly joining aircraft will first undergo a verification process and the data will then be exchanged internationally with the meteorological community for common good.

The Observatory thanks the participating airlines once again for their decade-long support on the AMDAR programme and their contribution towards more effective weather services through the provision of frequent aircraft observations.

Figure 1: Coverage of aircraft in Hong Kong AMDAR programme in 2017