METAR/SPECI (IWXXM) Information Service

The METAR/SPECI (IWXXM) Information Service provides the service consumer with METAR/SPECI report(s) for one or more aerodromes of a State as it becomes available in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2017/373 and ICAO ANNEX 3.

The service consumer can subscribe to the service, specifying what sort of information is of interest, and receive information as it becomes available.

It is also possible to send a direct request, using a request-reply mechanism, to the service to get the relevant meteorological information.

The meteorological information is issued by the designated Aeronautical Meteorological Station. The meteorological information is only intended to be used by service consumers within the aviation domain.

The service may make observed meteorological information available for the aerodrome's terminal control area (TMA).

regulated information exchange

METEOROLOGICAL_INFORMATION_EXCHANGE

http://reference.swim.aero/information-services/service-categories/CodeRegulatedInformationExchangeType.html 

business activity

INFORMATION_MANAGEMENT

http://reference.swim.aero/information-services/service-categories/CodeBusinessActivityType.html 

intended service consumer

• CIVIL_AIRSPACE_USER
• MILITARY_AIRSPACE_USER
• CIVIL_AIR_NAVIGATION_SERVICE_PROVIDER
• MILITARY_AIR_NAVIGATION_SERVICE_PROVIDER
• AIRPORT_OPERATOR
• REGULATED_METEOROLOGICAL_SERVICE_PROVIDER
• AIR_TRAFFIC_SERVICE_PROVIDER
• COMMUNICATION_NAVIGATION_AND_SURVEILLANCE_SERVICE_PROVIDER
• PROVIDER_OF_DATA_SERVICES (either directly or through a broker)
• AIRSIDE_GROUND_HANDLER

https://reference.swim.aero/information-services/service-categories/CodeStakeholderType.html

intended service provider

REGULATED_METEOROLOGICAL_SERVICE_PROVIDER

• METEOROLOGICAL_FEATURE_ACCESS_SERVICE
• METEOROLOGICAL_INFORMATION_SUBSCRIPTION_SERVICE
• METEOROLOGICAL_COVERAGE_ACCESS_SERVICE

http://reference.swim.aero/information-services/service-categories/CodeServiceType.html 

This field is left empty.

A list of operational needs that this service contributes to satisfying is available in Appendix C.

This service satisfies these by offering meteorological information as regulated by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/373 of 1 March 2017 and ICAO Annex 3.

The scope of the meteorological information satisfies the EU Implementing Regulation 2021/116 - Common Project One.

The service provides high quality, up-to-date, trusted, regulated meteorological information in digital form for use by service consumers within the aviation domain.

The service takes into account the following information exchange requirements:

The service takes into account the following information exchange requirement that may be implemented in some service instances.

The service consumer is subscribed to the observed aerodrome meteorological information or has managed the subscription as requested.

There shall be a service policy to ensure that only service consumers within the aviation domain can use the service.

The service policy shall include a requirement that service consumers cannot pass the information obtained from the service to non-aviation users without prior authorisation from the service provider.

The service shall ensure consumer authentication in accordance with the EUROCONTROL Specification for SWIM Technical Infrastructure (TI) Yellow Profile through the use of a X.509 certificate or the use of a username/password.

The service shall ensure provider authentication in accordance with EUROCONTROL Specification for SWIM Technical Infrastructure (TI) Yellow Profile through the use of a X.509 certificate.

The service shall ensure that satisfactory authorisation is put in place according to EUROCONTROL Specification for SWIM Technical Infrastructure (TI) Yellow Profile requirement SWIM-TIYP-0070.

The service shall achieve a quality that is sufficient to ensure the service is fit for purpose.

The service shall ensure confidentiality by using SWIM Technical Infrastructure (TI) Yellow Profile bindings.

The meteorological information offered by the service shall satisfy the applicable sections of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/373 of 1 March 2017, taking into account the specific requirements for providers of meteorological services in the Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance Material (GM) to Part-MET.

The meteorological information offered by the service shall satisfy the quality requirements expressed in ICAO Annex 3.

The meteorological information offered by the service shall satisfy the WMO No. 8 (2018) Guide to Meteorological Instruments and Methods of Observation.

Note: In the case of misalignment, the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/373 takes precedence.

The service provider shall ensure that the meteorological data offered by the services is received from the appropriate authorised originating sources. This includes:

• REGULATED_METEOROLOGICAL_SERVICE_PROVIDER acting as the designated Aeronautical Meteorological Station (AMS).

This field is left empty.

• PUBLISH_SUBSCRIBE
• REQUEST_REPLY

The service behaviour shall be in accordance with the patterns detailed in the Message Exchange Patterns: Identification Guidelines.

The interfaces have different behaviour. A combination of an AMQP 1.0 implementation and an OGC implementation shall be used for the basic behaviour.

The typical behaviour for PUBLISH_SUBSCRIBE means that:

• The subscription is handled by either:
  • a request-reply implementation (see Meteorological Aerodrome Observation Subscription and Request Service Subscription Interface) or
  • an email request to the service provider.
•  The distribution of the messages is handled by an AMQP 1.0 implementation (see Meteorological Aerodrome Observation Subscription and Request Service Distribution Interface).

The typical behaviour for REQUEST_REPLY (as used in Meteorological Aerodrome Observation Subscription and Request Service Request Interface) is as follows:

Synchronous Request/Reply

• The request message is sent from the service consumer to the service
• The service consumer remains blocked while awaiting the reply
• The service remains blocked while processing the reply
• The Meteorological Aerodrome Observation (Message), the reply message, is sent from the service to the service consumer.

Asynchronous Request/Reply

• The request message is sent from the service consumer to the service
• The Meteorological Aerodrome Observation (Message), the reply message, is sent from the service to the service consumer.

Allows the service consumer to request filtered meteorological information.
Are we aiming on having filters applied/offered or will we just offer the whole METAR/SPECI. One filter that has to be implemented at least is the one for aerodromes, of course depending on the recommendation by the MET3SG-TT whether there should be one service per aerodrome or one service per State.

Note: This interface is used to group the operations offered by the chosen OGC standard.

Allows the service consumer to select and subscribe to meteorological information of interest. It allows the service consumer to manage the subscriptions e.g. to unsubscribe.

Note: This is an optional interface. Many service providers will prefer to receive subscription requests by email.

EUROCONTROL Specification for SWIM Technical Infrastructure (TI) Yellow Profile

1.1

• for services that exchange the meteorological information as resources:
  • OGC API – Environmental Data Retrieval Standard;
• for services that exchange the meteorological information as coverages:
  • OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS) Interface Standard – Core, version 2.1;
  • OGC API - Coverages;
• for services that exchange the meteorological information as features:
  • OGC Web Feature Service 2.0 Interface Standard;
  • OGC API – Features.

Note: It is a best practice for new services that exchange meteorological information to implement the OGC API – Environmental Data Retrieval Standard.

EUROCONTROL Specification for SWIM Technical Infrastructure (TI) Yellow Profile

1.1

WS_LIGHT

EUROCONTROL Specification for SWIM Technical Infrastructure (TI) Yellow Profile

1.1

AMQP 1.0 shall be used to distribute messages as explained in the Publish/Subscribe Push MEP: Implementation Guidance.

The OGC Web Feature Service 2.0 Interface Standard is used to implement the service operations. It is not the intention to repeat the standardised operations here. However, the table below illustrates how the GetFeature operation would look in the context of this service.

GetFeature

Request, METAR/SPECI Message

publish

This operation allows the service provider to publish Meteorological Aerodrome Observation Message to service consumers based on their subscriptions.

METAR/SPECI Message

The OGC Web Feature Service 2.0 Interface Standard details the basic messages such as request and response messages. It is not the intention to repeat the standardised messages here. The table below provides extra details for the METAR/SPECI Message.

METAR/SPECI Message

The output message containing the observed meteorological aerodrome information.

The service shall offer information available in accordance with Appendix B.

The METAR/SPECI (IWXXM) Information Service Request Interface shall support the During temporal operator defined in the OGC Filter Encoding 2.0 Encoding Standard.

The METAR/SPECI (IWXXM) Information Service Request Interface shall support filtering based on the name and ICAO location indicator of the aerodrome of interest..

The METAR/SPECI (IWXXM) Information Service Request Interface should support filtering based on the operators defined in the OGC Filter Encoding 2.0 Encoding Standard.

The METAR/SPECI (IWXXM) Information Service Subscription Interface shall allow for the selection of subscription based on clearly defined criteria.

The service may support other filters on a case by case basis. Example: other filters defined on a case by case basis are probability and severity threshold.

This field is left empty. No machine-readable service interface definition is provided.

This field is left empty. No model view is provided.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/373 of 1 March 2017 laying down common requirements for providers of air traffic management/air navigation services and other air traffic management network functions and their oversight, repealing Regulation (EC) No 482/2008, Implementing Regulations (EU) No 1034/2011, (EU) No 1035/2011 and (EU) 2016/1377 and amending Regulation (EU) No 677/2011.

WFS offers direct fine-grained access to geographic information at the feature and feature property level. 

Note: This is equivalent to ISO 19142 - Geographic Information - Web Feature Service.

This jointly developed OGC and ISO TC/211 International Standard describes an XML and KVP encoding of a system neutral syntax for expressing projections, selection and sorting clauses collectively called a query expression. These components are modular and intended to be used together or individually by other standards which reference this International Standard.

Note: This is equivalent to ISO 19143 - Geographic Information - Filter encoding.

The message shall include the following metadata:

• Location covered by the message
• Responsible organisation
• Validity of the message

The message shall include information about the following meteorological phenomena when relevant:

• Surface wind direction and speed (averaging period to be established, update frequency to be established)
• Present weather at the aerodrome and its vicinity, including intensity
• Cloud amount, cloud type (only for cumulonimbus and towering cumulus clouds) and height of cloud base or, where measured, vertical visibility
• Visibility
• Runway visual range, when applicable
• Air temperature and dew-point temperature
• Atmospheric pressure (QNH and, when applicable, QFE)

The message should include:

• Supplementary information when applicable.

The message may include:

• Information in support of winter operations.

• Generate graphical representations of data in support of responsibilities.
• Retrieve dynamic data to support digital integrated briefing concepts.
• Ensure safe operations by responding to changes in the situation.
• Require information on unique weather constraints such as fog, snow, convection etc., or on particular operational constraints such as runway throughput, winter procedures, noise abatement procedures, free routing, etc.

• Generate graphical representations of data in support of responsibilities.
• Retrieve dynamic data to support digital integrated briefing concepts.
• Ensure safe operations by responding to changes in the situation.
• Require information on unique weather constraints such as fog, snow, convection etc., or on particular operational constraints such as runway throughput, winter procedures, noise abatement procedures, free routing, etc.

• Ensure safe operations by responding to changes in the conditions of the airspace infrastructure.
• Support real-time displays in, for example, remote towers.
• Require information on unique weather constraints such as fog, snow, convection etc., or on particular operational constraints such as runway throughput, winter procedures, noise abatement procedures, free routing, etc.

This role is recognised in the SESAR Deployment Programme as a service consumer of the aerodrome and en-route services.

The real-time aspects will have an impact on the service architecture.

• Ensure safe operations by responding to changes in the conditions of the airspace infrastructure.
• Require information on unique weather constraints such as fog, snow, convection etc., or on particular operational constraints such as runway throughput, winter procedures, noise abatement procedures, free routing, etc.

• Support situational awareness of APP and TWR units due to provision of current weather information

• MET providers shall have the possibility and ability to consume needed information to perform their tasks e.g. flight briefing or to update their forecast products based on the latest weather information

This role is not recognised by the SESAR Deployment Program as a service consumer. However, it is recognised in ATM Master Plan (https://atmmasterplan.eu/data/enablers/20417016.)

Moreover, looking at the EU Reg. 2017/373, a MET Service Provider has to support stakeholders and for that MET-data is needed from other MET-providers. Also such MET-data is needed for their own purpose to evaluate the correctness of forecasts.

• Not applicable

• CNS service providers shall have the possibility and ability to receive current wind information, especially during timeframes strong winds are forecasted.

• In case a provider of data services also offers/handles MET data, the provider shall have the possibility and ability to receive the data needed

• Not applicable

• Support airport-CDM.
• Support aerodrome processes including low visibility operations, aerodrome warnings and runway configuration management.

• Provide information to ground handlers especially in regard to hazardous weather which might affect their operations (thunderstorms, freezing rain,..)

A military defence centre.

Note: these centres, e.g., check for diplomatic clearance.

• Not applicable