July INTER OFFICE MEMORANDUM

							                                 INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM


                                                                       20 August 2009




To:              All ICAORDs (for attention of ROs/MET and ROs/AIM)

cc:              D/ANB, DD/ANB
From:            C/MET/AIM
Subject:         List of MET/AIM-related issues addressed in July 2009

        The following issues were addressed:

MET-RELATED ISSUES


1.      COORDINATION WITH STATES, REGIONAL OFFICES AND PCI
        (IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES)

        a) Draft follow-up letter related to GREPECAS Conclusion 15/9 drafted by Enrique, addressed
           to WMO, reviewed and commented on;

        b) Olli attended the CNS/MET SG/13 Meeting of the APANPIRG assisting Chris in the conduct
           of the meeting and preparation of the report;

        c) Greg took up duty as RO/MET Paris on 27 July 2009; all ROs/MET informed accordingly;

        d) notification related to the change in the header of OPMET bulletins issued by Libya referred
           to the EUR BMG (through the Paris Regional Office) for action, as appropriate;

        e) comments provided to Enrique on a draft reply to Herbert (WMO) concerning the issuance of
           SIGMET;

        f)   updated information and media reports provided to the Deputy Director of the EUR/NAT
             Office regarding the Volcanic Ash Awareness Workshop held in Catania, Sicily (23 to 26
             June 2009);

        g) e-mail from Mr. Patrick Simon (Meteo France) requesting comments/suggestions regarding
           the results of the monitoring of AFI data received at Regional OPMET Centre, Toulouse,
           performed over five days between 29 January and 2 February 2007, forwarded to Boi and
           Benoit for action, as appropriate,

        h) draft ASIA/PAC SL on ACC AFTN addresses to receive radioactive “cloud” information
           from VAAC London reviewed; comments sent to Chris; and




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     i)   follow-up letters relating to the following conclusions were sent:

          1) EANPG 50/37 (seminar on the provision of MET service for low-level flights): a letter to
             WMO;

          2) GREPECAS 15/14 (seminar on the preparation, issuance and dissemination of SIGMET):
             letters to VAAC Washington, VAAC Buenos Aires and WMO;

          3) GREPECAS 15/5 a) and MIDANPIRG 11/76 a) (seminar on the use of the new gridded
             WAFS forecasts for CB clouds, icing and turbulence): letters to WAFC Provider States
             and WMO; and

          4) MIDANPIRG 11/84 b) (seminar on QMS for MET): letter to WMO.


2.   ANC, COORDINATION WITH ANB SECTIONS, ADB, ATB, TCB AND SOA

     a) MET/AIM content of the draft agenda of the two-week training event in November 2009 for
        ROs/FLS and ROs/ATM reviewed.


3.   COORDINATION WITH WMO

     a) Preparations for the pilot project related to the use of XML for OPMET continued with
        WMO, Belgocontrol, EUR BMG, Hong Kong (China) and Lufthansa. The pilot project was
        undertaken successfully on 23 July 2009; and

     b) date and venue of the second meeting of the WMO CBS/CAeM Expert Team on OPMET
        data representation (ET-ODR) coordinated with the WMO Secretariat. The initial plan is to
        convene the meeting at the EUR/NAT Regional Office on 26 October 2009.


4.   COORDINATION WITH IATA/IFALPA/EUROCONTROL

     a) In response to a request by IATA Flight Operations Group, the raison-d’être for removing
        surface fronts from SIGWX forecasts provided to Ndiwa (IATA);

     b) with regard to the forthcoming IATA METTF (to be held in Orlando, Florida in
          October 2009), it was indicated that ICAO would not be in a position to attend; however,
          assistance would be provided through teleconference facilities, as necessary; and

     c) possible attendance at the “MET Support to ATM Workshop” and coordination meeting
          between the FAA-EUROCONTROL concerning the MET aspects of the NextGen/SESAR
          programmes coordinated with EUROCONTROL.


5.   OPMET DATABASE

     a) Missing OPMET data from Mexico (29 June to 1 July 2009) brought to our attention by
        Switzerland. Issue referred to Enrique for study and appropriate action.
                                               -3-

6.    STUDY GROUPS AND OPERATIONS GROUPS

6.1   SADISOPSG

      a) SADIS Provider State indicated that Greg (Brock) will be replaced by Chris Tyson who will
         take up the responsibilities of the SADIS Manager in autumn 2009;

      b) SADISOPSG/14 Meeting was held at the APAC Regional Office (Bangkok, 15 to
         17 July 2009). The meeting report, together with the executive summary, was placed on the
         SADISOPSG website;

      c) criteria for using the “FC” and “FT” data-type designators clarified with the ISCS Provider
         State; and

      d) a Canadian software developer advised on the procedure to be followed to obtain access to
         the SADIS FTP service.

6.2   WAFSOPSG

      a) List of ISCS users received from the ISCS Provider State. This list will replace
         FASID Tables MET 7 in the ANP/FASID;

      b) agenda finalized for the WAFS workshop on the new gridded products (to be held at the
         EUR/NAT Regional Office in September 2009). The invitation letters were subsequently sent
         to aviation users and software vendors by the WAFC London Provider State;

      c) composition of delegations of Canada, Germany the United Kingdom, the United States and
         IFALPA at the WAFSOPSG/5 Meeting confirmed; and

      d) draft article by the WAFC Provider States on the past and future of WAFS reviewed and
         commented on.

6.3   AMOFSG

      a) Comment on Agreed Action 7/18 regarding trend forecasts received; forwarded to the
         Rapporteur for appropriate action.

6.4   METWSG

      Nil.

6.5   IAVWOPSG

      a) Comments provided to Nohora regarding a draft article on volcanic ash to be published in the
         ICAO SAM Office magazine;

      b) updated information regarding access to the new site of the GIS facility received from the
         Geographical Information Systems Unit forwarded to VAACs Montreal and London;

      c) in response to a request, a copy of the Boeing Volcanic Ash Avoidance video provided to the
             Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Thomas A. Guinn, Ph. D, Assistant Professor of
             Applied Meteorology);
                                              -4-

     d) in response to action called for by Conclusion 3/28 (Incorporation on the GIS of the database
        concerning ACCs and its AFTN addresses), the 8-letter AFTN addresses for ACCs for both
        the ESAF and WACAF States received from Boi;

     e) question regarding a specific WMO header for the VONA messages raised by New Zealand.
        Since only few volcano observatories have access to AFTN, the template was created with
        the transmission to ACCs and MWOs by fax or e-mail in mind. Based on the options offered
        by WMO – No. 386, Manual on the GTS Part II, Attachment II-5, similar to the Volcanic
        Activity Report (Annex 3, Appendix 3, Example A3-3 refers), the use of “SX” as a header;
        was advised; and

     f) advice on mandatory and optional elements in Annex 3, Table A2-1, advisory message for
        volcanic ash, was provided to USGS (Tina Neal).




AIM-RELATED ISSUES


1.   COORDINATION WITH STATES, REGIONAL OFFICES AND PCI
     (IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES)

     a) Information provided to Sandra Häberli, Skyguide — Swiss Air Navigation Services Ltd,
        regarding advisory areas in NOTAM;

     b) clarification provided to John Moore, FAA/Aviation System Standards, regarding definition,
        in ICAO documents, of wind turbines and windmills;

     c) information provided to George Sempeles, FAA/Aeronautical Information Management
        Quality Assurance, regarding the genesis of data accuracy tables in Annex 15;

     d) feedback given to Gerd Langhammer, EAD, regarding changes to NOTAMC in
        Amendment 36 to Annex 15 and abbreviations for inclusion in the PANS-ABC and
        Doc 8126;

     e) information provided to Richard Macfarlane, Delegation of Australia, regarding proposed
        Annex 15 metadata SARPs;

     f) information on ICAO AIM and aeronautical charting activities provided by David to
        participants at the 2009 ICAO Familiarization Course; and

     g) ballot comments provided to Mr. Pedro Rivas, chairman of the SAE G10 Committee on
        Aeronautical Charting, on the SAE ARP 5289 dealing with electronic aeronautical chart
        symbols. Ballot comments are to be reviewed by the SAE G10 Committee on Aeronautical
        Charting in August 2009.


2.   ANC, COORDINATION WITH ANB SECTIONS, ATB, TCB AND SOA

     a) Coordination was undertaken by David and Jean-Michel with the Air Traffic Management
        Requirements and Performance Panel (ATMRPP). The ATMRPP is developing a proposal
                                               -5-

           for a flight information mechanism in line with the Global ATM Operational Concept which
           will replace the traditional ICAO flight plan currently in the PANS-ATM. The new
           mechanism is described in the “Draft Flight and Flow Information for the Collaborative
           Environment (FF-ICE)” which has been prepared by the ATMRPP for coordination with the
           other ICAO Panels/Subgroup/Committee and, accordingly, is expected to be presented to the
           AIS-AIMSG for comment.


3.     AIS-AIMSG

       a) Follow-up sent regarding request for participation of a member from WMO; and

       b) a number of study notes were received in preparation for the AIS-AIMSG/2 meeting to be
          held in November.




                                                                       Olli M. Turpeinen

 A

Appendices:
      A ─ Documentation issued or updated on the respective websites
      B ─ List of active volcanoes during the month
                                    APPENDIX A

                   DOCUMENTATION ISSUED OR UPDATED
                      ON THE RESPECTIVE WEBSITES

AIM

Document           Date of issuance    Content
                   (I) or update (U)
NIL


AIS-AIMSG PUBLIC

Document           Date of issuance    Content
                   (I) or update (U)
NIL


AIS-AIMSG SECURE

Document           Date of issuance    Content
                   (I) or update (U)
NIL


IAVWOPSG

Document           Date of issuance Content
                   (I) or update (U)
Follow-up table    30/07/2009 (U)    Follow-up table updated to reflect action taken
Memo-34            31/07/2009 (I)    Memo on the follow-up of IAVWOPSG/4 Conclusions
                                     and information on the new Internet address to access the
                                     IAVWOPSG website in the SharePoint environment


WAFSOPSG

Document           Date of issuance    Content
                   (I) or update (U)
WP/6, WP/7          1/07/2009 (I)      Secretariat WPs on long-term plan and work programme;
WP/4               29/07/2009 (I)      Secretariat WPs on the operation of WAFS;
WP/5               31/07/2009 (I)      Secretariat WPs on the development of WAFS
IP/6               28/07/2009 (I)      Report by WAFC Washington Provider State on the
                                       WAFS Science Meeting (April 2009)
IP/7               31/07/2009 (I)      Report by China related to the experimental gridded
                                       WAFS forecasts
                                            A-2

SADISOPSG

Document               Date of issuance Content
                       (I) or update (U)
SADIS       status  of 31/07/2009 (U)    Update to include SADIS 2G users in the Gambia,
implementation                           Bosnia and Herzegovina and Qatar
SADISOPSG/14 report & 31/07/2009 (I)     Meeting report and the associated executive summary
Executive summary


AMOFSG

Document               Date of issuance Reason
                       (I) or update (U)
NIL


METWSG

Document               Date of issuance Reason
                       (I) or update (U)
NIL



OPMET DATABASE

State(s)                 Date             Changes
NIL




                                     ————————
                   APPENDIX B

LIST OF ACTIVE VOLCANOES DURING JULY 2009



         Volcano                 State
Batu-Tara              Indonesia
Etna                   Italy
Sakurajima             Japan
Fuego                  Guatemala
Santiaguito            Guatemala
Dukono                 Indonesia
Ubinas                 Peru
Rabaul                 Papua New Guinea
Krakatau               Indonesia
Fuego                  Guatemala
Chaiten                Chile
Barren Islan           India
Sangay                 Ecuador
Sarychev-Peak          Russian Fed.
Suwanosejima           Japan
Sheveluch              Russian Fed.




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