This help and information page part of the Juneau Airport Wind System (JAWS) Prototype developed for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by the Research Applications Laboratory (RAL) of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Its purpose is to enhance aviation safety in the region of the Juneau Airport by providing turbulence alerts based on realtime wind information from anemometers and wind profilers at strategic locations. This information is being provided to the FAA, the National Weather Service (NWS), commercial airlines, and general aviation users.

For more information about the history and status of the JAWS project, see this article on the NCAR web site.

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The map shows the location of the JAWS sensors.

Anemometers measure wind speed and direction, as well as temperature, at a single location.

Wind profilers are radars that look vertically and measure wind speed and direction as a function of height above the radar. These measurements are reported for a number of representative altitudes.

Data Update Rates

Anemometer data are updated every minute. Data are average values from the previous 1-minute interval.

Profiler data are updated every 10 minutes. Data are average values from the previous 10-minute interval.

Measurement Units

Wind speeds are given in knots.

Wind direction is the direction from which the wind is coming.

Wind Direction and Magnetic Declination

The diagram shows True North (N) and Magnetic North (M).

Wind direction angle is measured clockwise from Magnetic North.

The magnetic declination for Juneau is approximately 29.5 degrees, so to calculate the wind direction relative to True North, add 29.5 degrees.

Data Values

Data values which are unavailable are indicated by 'NA' and a gray background.

Data values which did not pass quality control are indicated by 'NA' and a white background.

Data values which are not produced by the sensor are indicated by a '-' and a white background.