19/9/2015

AWCADDSWindTempData

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Wind/TempPlots
TheWinds/Tempspageprovides2Dgraphicsofwindsandtemperaturesatamultitudeofaltitudesfromthecurrenttimeuntil
multipledaysinthefuture.

WindSpeedandStreamlines
Therearetwopresentationstylesusedtoconveywindspeedanddirection.Commontobothgraphicsisthewindspeed,whichis
contouredandcolorfilledtoindicatecertainrangesofspeed.Verylowwindspeedsdonotreceiveacolor,butprogressivelyfasterwind
speedsarecoloredfrombluetoyellow,orange,gold,thenred.Sincewindspeedgenerallyincreaseswithincreasingheight,users
shouldexpecttoseemorefrequentorangetoredcolorsathighaltitudes.Duringmostoftheyear,userscaneasilylocatethe"jet
stream"byviewingthechartaround36,000feet(FL360)andfindingtheribbonoffastestmovingair.
Thedirectionofthewindisveryobviousonthewindstreamlinesgraphics,whichalmostgivetheappearanceofriversorchannelsof
wind(SeeFig.2).Thispresentationmethodalsomakesobviousthelocationsofhighandlowpressurecentersandupperlevelridges
andtroughs.Thealternativepresentationstyleistheclassical"windbarbs"thatshowbothwindspeedanddirectiononasingleicon
thatisbestexplainedviathefigureshownbelow.

Figure1:WindBarbs
AsampleplotofwindbarbscanbeseeninFig.3.
Thecomputermodelsthatcreatethesedatatypicallyhavethousandsof"pixels"ofinformation,butnoteverypixelcancontainan
iconforwindspeedanddirection,soonlyarepresentativesampleofpixelsaredisplayedonthegraphic.

Figure2:WindSpeedandStreamlines

Figure3:WindSpeedwithWindBarbs

TemperatureandTemperatureDifference
Thetemperaturegraphicsarerelativelyeasytounderstandwithacontourlinecreatedforeveryintervalof5degreesC(SeeFig.4).
Thehorizontalvariationoftemperatureisgreatestatlowaltitudes,especiallyattheearth'ssurfaceandlessenswithincreasing
height.Therefore,donotexpecttoseemuchvariationoftemperatureontheplotatFL360wherethetemperatureregularlyhovers
around50to55Cnomatterwhereinthecountryyoulook.
ThegraphicscalledtemperaturedifferenceareratheruniqueonADDS.Becausetemperaturecanaffectaircraftperformance,some
instrumentsarecalibratedwithrespecttotheICAOstandardatmospherictemperature.Iftheweatherconditionsonagivendayare
drasticallydifferentthanthisreferencetemperature,astheywouldbeoftenduringthehottestsummerdays,thenpilotsneedtoalter
theircalculations.Forthisreason,ADDSdisplaygraphicsofthedepartureofupperleveltemperaturefromtheICAOstandardalong
withthestandardtemperaturevalueatthelevelshown.Eachcontourislabelledwith"ISA"meaningICAOstandardatmosphere
followedbyanoffsetlike"+5"meaning5degreesChigher(warmer)thanstandardtemperature(SeeFig.5).Mostpilotshave
methodstoenterthedeparturevalueratherthantheactualtemperaturesothischartshouldsimplifyapilotsflightpreparations.
Inaddition,thereisoneveryspecialgraphicdepictingtheaviationeffectofhighsurfacetemperaturesthatlowertheairdensityto
dangerouslylowvaluesandrequirelongerrunwaylengthsbeforeanaircraftmayliftofftherunway.Thisisknownasdensityaltitude
deviation.Thegraphicfortemperaturedifferenceatthesurfacelevelisdesignedtogivepilotsthisinformation.Onthisgraphic,users
willfindvaluesfromzeroto4000feetindicatingtheperceivedadditionalaltitudeoftherunwayratherthantheactualelevation.As
anexample,let'sconsideramoderatelyhighaltitudeairportatFortCollinsLoveland,Colorado,(KFNL)whichislocatedat5016feet
abovesealevel.Atypicaldayinmidsummermayshowavalueofdensityaltitudedeviationof3000feetonthegraphic.Ifso,the
EFFECTIVEaltitudeoftheairportisthen5016+3000=8016feetabovesealevel.Somepilotsmayfindthisaltituderequiresamuch
longerrunwaydistancetogainsufficientairspeedtoachievetheliftneededfortakeoff.

http://aviationweather.gov/windtemp/help?page=plot

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19/9/2015

AWCADDSWindTempData

Figure4:Temperature

Figure5:TemperatureDifferencefrom
standardatmosphere

URLOptions
HereisalistoftheURLoptions:
type={wind|windstrm|temp|isa}Thetypeofplot:
windWindspeedwithwindbarbs
windstrmWindspeedwithstreamlines
tempTemperature
isaTemperaturedifferencefromstandardatmosphere
Thedefaultiswind.
level={sfc|30|60|90|120|150|180|240|300|360|420|480}Theverticallevelin100soffeet.Thedefaultissfc.
fore=###Specifiestheforecasttime.Forecasttimesrunhourlyto18hoursandthenevery6hoursto84.Thedefaultis0.

Pageloaded:00:04UTC|05:04PMPacific|06:04PMMountain|07:04PMCentral|08:04PMEastern

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http://aviationweather.gov/windtemp/help?page=plot

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