Aircraft Based Observation (ABO) Dataset
Restrictions
Aircraft Based Observations (ABO) are either available to the public or restricted by the airlines. Publicly available data fall into two categories:
- WVSS-II data is available to the public in real-time.
- All ABO data is available to the public once the data is 48 hours old.
All other ABO are proprietary to the airlines providing the data and the following guidelines have been developed regarding real-time access:
- Real-time data may be made available to those US organizations that are performing research which is likely to benefit the airlines providing the data.
- Real-time data are available to US government agencies such as NOAA in support of forecasting operations.
- Real-time data may be made available only to airlines that provide ABO meteorological data to the US Government at their own expense. Data may not be shared with affiliate or code-share airlines.
- Real-time data may not be made available to commercial entities.
If you are granted access to real-time ABO the following rules apply:
- The data may not be redistributed.
- The use of images in research publications is allowed and encouraged.
- ABO can be used in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. NWP model results may be made available in real-time provided the following conditions are met:
- Individual ABO measurements may not be revealed (though gross numbers may be).
- ABO data must be one of several kinds of input observations (such as radiosondes and METARs).
- Real-time ABO data may not be used to develop products or services for sale.
- Models that use real-time ABO data may not be used to develop products or services for sale.
If you want to receive ABO data and you do not have a MADIS data account fill out a MADIS data application request here. If you already have an account email MADIS-Support and include the following information:
- Current MADIS account user name.
- Which access restriction you believe you meet public or restricted.
- How you plan to use the data.
- That you agree not to redistribute the data.
- That you will not be developing any commercial products or services using the data.
If you are from the research community, please have a faculty member or other responsible official of your organization fill out the account information or send the email with the information listed above.
We will reply by email with access information, or explaining why we cannot provide access.
Once approved, you can receive ABO data using the following methods:
- Web-based graphical displays.
- Web-based access to binary data in netCDF format.
- LDM access to binary data in netCDF format.
Last updated 15 March 2017
