Insight provider FlightAware has announced a partnership with aggregation and distribution platform Synoptic Data to deliver real-time Mode-S derived aircraft weather data via Synoptic's API services to weather-sensitive users in the public and private sector.

Synoptic is expanding its aircraft-based observations offering by leveraging FlightAware's capability to deliver global derived temperature and wind data throughout the vertical extent of the atmosphere using FlightAware's complete historical and predictive aviation information platform, Firehose.

Utilising Mode-S weather data from tens of thousands of flights daily across the globe, Synoptic will provide its customers with a rich source of vertical weather profile information to enhance and improve weather forecast accuracy, increasing the amount of available aircraft weather data by as much as 400 per cent in some situations.

In addition to direct use in aviation operations, weather data collected from aircraft is one of the most important inputs to both global and regional Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. Being able to incorporate additional data like FlightAware's Mode-S data, especially in data sparse regions, will increase weather model accuracy and allow customers the ability to deliver better forecasts, contributing to public safety, operational efficiencies and effective planning.

“The drop in air travel due to COVID has dramatically reduced the volume of critical airborne observations worldwide, impacting NWP weather forecast accuracy by as much as 30 per cent. This partnership provides an important additional source of vertical wind and temperature data that will have a direct impact on NWP performance, improving weather forecasts and by extension, improving operational efficiency for all weather-impacted businesses,” says Steve Woll, president of Synoptic Data PBC.