Observatory Staff Wrote for ICAO

7 March 2011

Mr. CM Shun, Assistant Director of the Hong Kong Observatory and Ms. Sandy Song, Senior Scientific Officer co-authored an article entitled New Meteorological Services Supporting Air Traffic Management recently published in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) Regional Report, a periodical of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Mr. Shun is also the President of the Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology (CAeM) of World Meteorological Organization (WMO), while Ms. Song is a core member of the CAeM Expert Team on Meteorological Services in the Terminal Area.

The current issue of the ICAO APAC Regional Report is dedicated to the theme of Intensifying Asia-Pacific Collaboration to Address Efficiency and Safety. The above-mentioned article presents the new Meteorological Services in the Terminal Area (MSTA) initiative, which is being undertaken by WMO in close collaboration with ICAO, aims at providing meteorological services to support Air Traffic Management (ATM) for the wider terminal areas, especially those at busy airports, which are currently not covered by the standard meteorological services stipulated by ICAO.

The WMO CAeM is working closely with ICAO and the ATM community to define and map out the details of the new MSTA services in support of ATM with the aim that it will evolve into a more integrated and collaborative initiative. It is planned that a proposal of MSTA will be developed for consideration by a conjoint meeting of ICAO and WMO to be held in 2014. This conjoint meeting, held once every 12 years, will determine the future development of aviation meteorological services for the next decade or so.

The article is available from the ICAO website at: http://www.bangkok.icao.int/news/ICAO_APAC-Regional-Report.pdf

Reprint of the article can also be obtained at the Observatorys website: http://www.hko.gov.hk/publica/reprint/r962.pdf