A collaboration between the Met Office, FLYHT Aerospace Solutions and Loganair, aims to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts and the prediction of localised severe weather in the UK, with expected benefits for the aviation industry such as more efficient route planning and supporting aims to reduce CO2 emissions.
The partnership provides the Met Office with FLYHT-WVSS-II atmospheric water vapour sensors to be installed on Loganair Embraer 145 aircraft flying across the UK. The sensors will continuously monitor environmental conditions around the aircraft during flight.
The Met Office is particularly interested in data collected during the ascent and descent phases of flight as this will provide a view of humidity, temperature, and wind measurements throughout the atmosphere. The use of this increase in observational data, is only possible because of the new Met Office supercomputer, which is coming online early in 2024. It will ultimately improve the forecasting of local scale weather. The relative humidity sensors will be fully integrated with FLYHT’s Certus SatCom and AFIRS Edge multi-channel WQAR for real-time data transmission of aircraft-based observations.
These readings promise to help to better predict extreme weather such as the Cumbrian storms of 2015, as well as improve local forecasting of, conditions such as thunderstorms, fog, and showers.
Met Office Associate Director of Technical Services, Bruce Truscott, said: “I am delighted to be working with FLYHT and Loganair to further improve our ability to observe and forecast the weather. Humidity measurements from aircraft will provide a much-valued addition to our observations capability, helping us to better define the 3-dimensional structure of the atmosphere which in turn is expected to support improvements in forecast accuracy.”
Jonathan Hinkles, CEO at Loganair, said: “This collaboration recognizes the important, positive role that airlines can play in understanding weather and the environment, and as a strategic partner, we are honoured to do our part.”
“We are confident that real-time aircraft data from FLYHT’s sensors will contribute to reduced delays and cancellations, resulting in net benefits to our customers and the financial performance of our airline. Additionally, we see this collaboration as a major step towards helping us achieve our sustainability goals.”
“It’s a privilege to support two forward thinking organizations like the Met Office and Loganair to help address our shared interest in weather and the environment,” said Kent Jacobs, President & Interim CEO at FLYHT. “FLYHT is pleased to be incorporating relative humidity data from our FLYHT-WVSS-II sensors into our aircraft-based observations knowing this will have a significant, positive effect on weather modelling.”