{{Use dmy dates, date=December 2021
VOLMET (French origin ''vol'' (flight) and ''météo'' (weather report)), or meteorological information for aircraft in flight, is a worldwide
network
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Science and technology
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Mathematics
...
SIGMET
SIGMET, or Significant Meteorological Information (AIM 7-1-6), is a severe weather advisory that contains meteorological information concerning the safety of all aircraft. Compared to AIRMETs, SIGMETs cover more severe weather.
Types
There a ...
and
METAR
METAR is a format for reporting weather information. A METAR weather report is predominantly used by aircraft pilots, and by meteorologists, who use aggregated METAR information to assist in weather forecasting.
Raw METAR is the most common form ...
reports on
shortwave
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
frequencies, and in some countries on VHF too. Reports are sent in
upper sideband
In radio communications, a sideband is a band of frequencies higher than or lower than the carrier frequency, that are the result of the modulation process. The sidebands carry the information transmitted by the radio signal. The sidebands com ...
mode, using automated voice transmissions.
Pilots on international routes, such as
North Atlantic Tracks
North Atlantic Tracks, officially titled the North Atlantic Organised Track System (NAT-OTS), is a structured set of transatlantic flight routes that stretch from the eastern North America to western Europe across the Atlantic Ocean, within the ...
, use these transmissions to avoid storms and turbulence, and to determine which procedures to use for descent, approach, and landing.
The VOLMET network divides the world into specific regions, and individual VOLMET stations in each region broadcast weather reports for specific groups of air terminals in their region at specific times, coordinating their transmission schedules so as not to interfere with one another. Schedules are determined in intervals of five minutes, with one VOLMET station in each region broadcasting reports for a fixed list of cities in each interval. These schedules repeat every hour.
An aircraft in flight can obtain by VOLMET the Aviation routine weather reports (METAR) of specific airports.
See also
*
Automatic Terminal Information Service
Automatic terminal information service, or ATIS, is a continuous broadcast of recorded aeronautical information in busier terminal areas, i.e. airports and their immediate surroundings. ATIS broadcasts contain essential information, such as current ...