Southwest Airlines will install ARINC Water Vapor Sensor Systems (WVSS) on its fleet of Boeing 737-700s.
ARINC is providing the WVSS systems as part of a contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to support the water vapor program of the National Weather Service (NWS). The systems will provide coast-to-coast weather observations on more than 100 aircraft once installation is complete, according to ARINC.
"Experience has shown that the quality of data derived from these aircraft is extremely high and cost effective and contributes significantly to the improvements in forecasting applications, and are particularly useful for now-casting where conditions are changing rapidly,” said David Helms, NWS Office of Science and Technology.