Orlando International Airport Deploys Advanced Weather Monitoring

and Alerting Solutions from Earth Networks

BACKGROUND

Located in central Florida, Orlando International Airport is an extremely busy travel hub located near many of the nation’s biggest, most popular

vacation destinations and attractions. Every day, the airport welcomes nearly 100,000 passengers and facilitates hundreds of arrivals and

departures for 41 different airlines.

CHALLENGES

Airports are typically at risk from lightning strikes due to their open landscape and the presence of towers and antennae. Having accurate and

timely weather and lightning information is crucial to ensure optimal operations and keep ground crews as safe as possible. Airports must be

equipped with advanced equipment and technology for weather monitoring, advanced warning of lightning and severe weather alerting.

Orlando International Airport recognized the important role that weather and lightning technology play within airport operations. Airport ofﬁcials

and airline staff require detailed weather information on a 24/7 basis to make critical safety and operational decisions quickly. And due to

Orlando’s location and climate, the potential for lightning formation and severe weather caused concern. The airport had long utilized a lightning

sensor and devices for detecting and informing of lightning. However, management sought to integrate newer and more comprehensive

weather monitoring and alerting solutions within airport operations.

StreamerRT shows

live radar and cloud-

to-ground and in-cloud

lightning. High rates

of in-cloud lightning

are a precursor of

severe weather.

United States: (800) 544-4429 • International: 1 (301) 250-4315 • www.earthnetworks.com

EN.Mktg.Ent.EG.MM9 20120904

SOLUTION

Orlando International Airport implemented a state-of-the-art, all-weather

monitoring and alerting system from Earth Networks. The solution includes

the following:

• Total lightning sensor that is one of hundreds worldwide within the Earth

Networks Total Lightning Network™, the largest and most advanced network

for precisely detecting both in-cloud (IC) and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning.

Detecting in-cloud lightning is major factor in the prediction of severe weather,

such as tornadoes, heavy rainfall, downburst winds, wind shear

and cloud-to-ground lightning strikes.

• On-site weather station that measures local conditions including temperature,

wind speed and direction, precipitation, humidity and more, updated every

two seconds. These professional-grade weather sensors are used by airports,

government, emergency management and recreational facilities for monitoring

local real-time weather conditions and obtaining pinpoint forecasts.

• StreamerRT

, a web-based weather visualization and alerting

application for monitoring storm cells, lightning and changing conditions.

StreamerRT combines real-time data from the airport’s weather station with

local weather information from the Earth Networks network of more than

35,000 locations – including 10,000 stations that are exclusive to

Earth Networks.

• Lightning alerting devices that inform staff and ofcials located indoors when

lightning is detected. Within the airport, these devices activate when lightning

approaches within a predetermined distance – providing advanced warning of

impending severe weather conditions.

RESULTS

Orlando International Airport provides staff with

StreamerRT, which enables them to continually monitor and

react to lightning, storms, and other severe weather moving

through the region. By providing insight into approaching

weather, StreamerRT helps airport staff and personnel

at 20 different airlines make more informed operational

decisions, which in turn minimizes false alarms and helps

improve on-time performance. In addition, the staff receives

notiﬁcations from indoor alert devices when lightning occurs

within a given distance.

“Accessing updated, local weather conditions; watching

weather as it happens in real time; and receiving prompt

alerts on a web-based system during weather events

is signiﬁcant,”says Cyrus Callum, of the Operations

Department for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority,

which manages Orlando International Airport. “It enables

us to respond more efﬁciently in providing information and

making decisions that keep safety our number-one priority.”