The Thirty-Eighth Meeting of the Data Management Group (DMG/38) of the Meteorology Group (METG) was held at the ICAO EUR/NAT Regional Office in Paris from 21 to 22 March 2023. Participants from Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Romania, Spain, the Russian Federation (virtual attendance), the United Kingdom, SESAR Deployment Manager (virtual attendance) and ICAO contributed to the following:
- Reviewed the current status of implementation of the ICAO Meteorological Information Exchange Model (IWXXM) for some OPMET data in accordance to ICAO Annex 3, which is a prerequisite for the implementation of System Wide Information Management (SWIM);
- Many States still rely on translation services from their associated Regional OPMET Centre (ROC) noting there were modest improvements by States in implementing the necessary communications infrastructure for the production and exchange of OPMET data in IWXXM format. By the end of 2023 there is a potential of approximately 84% of States in the EUR Region that will not rely on translation services compared to the current 61% of States;
- Inter-Regional OPMET Gateways (IROG) London and Singapore successfully exchange OPMET data in IWXXM format between the EUR and APAC Regions. IROG Vienna and Jeddah began exchanging OPMET data in IWXXM format between the EUR and MID Regions (currently in test mode). Other inter-regional coordination (NAM, CAR, SAM and AFI) is necessary with the objective to have OPMET data in IWXXM format available to operators from anywhere in the world in order to take advantage of new SWIM services;
- Reviewed and agreed on proposals to the Volcanic Ash Contingency Plan (VACP) for the EUR/NAT Regions (EUR Doc 019, NAT Doc 006, Part II) to reflect current practices on the routing of volcanic ash advisories (subject to approval by METG, VOLCEX/SG, EASPG and NAT/IMG);
- Reviewed the implementation of the Aviation System Block Upgrade (ASBU) thread elements AMET B0 and B1 based on annual DMG OPMET monitoring results conducted in February 2023. The measure of implementation had generally stabilized with 93% and 99% implementation of ASBU thread elements AMET B0 and B1, respectively.
- Addressed updating EUR Doc 018, EUR OPMET Data Management Handbook, that proposes changes to the warning monitoring procedures; providing an example of amended TAF before the start of validity time; and transferring elements from EUR Doc 033, Guidelines for the Implementation of OPMET Data Exchange using IWXXM in the EUR Region, with the vision of retiring EUR Doc 033 by the end of 2023;
- Reviewed proposal on the implementation of a back-up MET-Switch for ROC Moscow in a remote location;
- Other topics discussed included automating the METNO Procedure as well as reviewed SWIM developments from the Meteorology Panel (METP) Working Group on Meteorological Information Exchange (WG-MIE) and other relevant groups and States.
DMG/39 will be held from 13 to 15 June 2023 in Madrid.
