Environmental Broadcast circuits that are keyed to the
AWN. FNMOD Tinker also provides guidance on
AWN data formats and can assist with preparing
request messages for AWN products. Detailed
information on the AWN can be obtained from
the
FNMOD
Tinker
homepage
at
http://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/~tinker/.
AFMEDS.The data network used to support Air
Force, Navy, and Marine Corps meteorological
facilities within the United States is called the
Continental United States (COWS) Meteorological
Data System, or COMEDS. In the early 1970's, the
service was expanded to include the European
Meteorological Data System (EURMEDS), the Pacific
Meteorological Data System (PACMEDS), the Atlantic
Meteorological Data System (ALTMEDS), and an
Alaskan Meteorological Data System (AKMEDS).
These services are subsystems of the Air Force
Meteorological Data System, or AFMEDS. Most of
these dedicated landline circuits will be phased out by
early next century as the NIPRNET becomes the
primary method of transmitting AWN data. Software
known as the Message Format Transmitter (MFT)
module will be incorporated into the Meteorological
and Oceanographic (METOC) Interactive Data Display
System (MIDDS) to complete this changeover.
However, the actual AWN data formats will not change.
Ships will continue to receive AWN data via the Fleet
Environmental Broadcast, which is discussed later in
the chapter.
ARQ Requests.Incoming environmental
information is stored in the AWN computers in files
identified with a MANOP heading. (MANOP headings
will be discussed in more detail shortly). As each
observation or product is received in the computer, the
data is forwarded to all units that have listed that
particular MANOP as part of their data requirements.
Additionally, any activity connected to the system may
request individual products that are not on their data
requirements list by a process called Automatic
Response to Query, or ARQ. Individual activities may
also use the system to transfer specific support products
from a forecast activity, such as a detachment, to any
other activity on the system.
MANOP Headings.The use of MANOP
headings is the key to data retrieval from the system.
MANOP headings conform to WMO product
identification guidelines as well as to the International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidelines for
station identification. Every MANOP must follow the
general format
TTAA(ii) CCCC YYGGgg (mod)
where
TT
AA
ii
CCCC
YYGGgg
Mod
is the data content identifiera two-
letter code for the type of data contained
in the bulletin or message;
is the Geographical designatora two-
letter code for the region covered by the
data in the bulletin or message;
is a two-digit series number assigned to
products containing similar data for
similar areas, and issued by the same
originating station;
is the four-letter ICAO station identifier
for the station originating or compiling
the information in the bulletin;
is the UTC date-time group (DTG) of
the information within the bulletin or
message, with YY as the day, GG as the
hour, and gg as the minutes; and
is a modification indicator-an
abbreviation showing that a change has
occurred in an otherwise routinely
scheduled message. Mod indicators are
"RTD" (routine delayed) and "COR"
(correction).
Each product entered in the system must contain the
proper MANOP header before being entered into the
system. However, transmissions of some routine
products, such as standard military station weather
observations and terminal aerodrome forecasts (TAFs)
are normally sent through the system without
MANOPs. Instead, they are grouped into a collective by
the system, and then assigned a MANOP by the AWN
computer.
Appendix II provides a breakdown of the various
MANOP data type identifiers (TT) and geographical
designators (AA) used within the system. A complete
listing of available data in the AWN system can be
obtained from the AFWA Detachment 7, Tinker AFB
website: http://137.240.101.95, and the FNMOD
Tinker website.
NOTAMS.The
AWN
also
provides
communications for the worldwide military NOTAM
system. The Air Force Central NOTAM Facility
(AFCNF) in Washington, D.C. collects and retransmits
NOTAMs from all military airfields as well as civil
aviation NOTAMs from the FAA NOTAM facility in
Atlanta, Georgia. NOTAMs report items of interest to
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