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ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) hosted the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)/World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016 from 27th to 30th June at the Mita Kaigisho conference center in Tokyo, Japan. A total of 31 people attended from 15 states/special administrative regions (Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong/China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka and Thailand) and two international organizations (the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and ICAO). Over 10 JMA officers also attended as presenters/instructors.


The four-day workshop began with opening remarks from JMA’s Aeronautical Meteorology Division Director Tatsuya Kimura.

Presentations on the basics of SIGMET information and its importance were given by ICAO Asia/Pacific Regional Office MET Reginal Officer Peter Dunda and Senior Meteorologist Chih-Hsien Wei representing IATA. James Lannan from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) and Sarah Sparks from New Zealand’s Meteorological Service (MetService) presented case studies and details of their operational collaboration. JMA staff from the Tropical Cyclone Advisory Centre (TCAC) and the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) within the ICAO framework also outlined their advisory systems.

ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016 ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016 ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016

The ICAO Annex 3 (Eighteenth Edition) defines SIGMET information as that “… issued by a meteorological watch office concerning the occurrence or expected occurrence of specified en-route weather phenomena which may affect the safety of aircraft operations,” and is essential for safe, efficient flight.


Workshop attendees used JMA’s SATAID (Satellite Animation and Interactive Diagnosis) program to learn how this and associated applications can be used to produce appropriately formatted SIGMET information from Himawari-8 imagery and numerical weather prediction (NWP) data.

ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016 ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016 ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016 ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016

Attendees also visited the TCAC, VAAC and other operational areas on a technical tour of JMA’s headquarters.

ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016 ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016 ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016

After the presentations and exercises, attendees discussed necessary and useful efforts toward SIGMET information improvement with focus on four major ideas:

  1. Practical use of advisory information within the ICAO framework and satellite analysis results obtained from the SATAID program
  2. Sharing and utilization of reports from pilots
  3. Collaboration among Meteorological Watch Offices (MWOs)
  4. Hosting of further workshops


The workshop provided outstanding opportunities for the development of collaborative relationships in the Asia/Pacific region and further enhancement of aviation weather services in the area.

For further details, see the WMO web page at https://www.wmo.int/aemp/SIGMET-WKSP-TOKYO.

ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016 ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016 ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016

ICAO/WMO Asia/Pacific SIGMET Workshop Tokyo 2016