AAAE ACE Operations Module 3 Practice Exam

The primary weather observing system in the United States is the automated surface observing system, ASOS, with AWSS used at sites where ASOS isn’t installed. This network continuously collects standardized surface weather data—wind speed and direction, visibility, cloud cover and ceiling, temperature, dew point, and altimeter—and notes present weather. Those observations are automatically compiled into METARs and other aviation products, providing timely, uniform, real-time information for pilots, dispatchers, and meteorologists across the nation. Because it supplies the official surface condition data widely used for aviation planning and safety, it serves as the main source of weather observations. Radar systems like TDWR and NEXRAD gig for detecting weather from a distance and do not replace the need for primary surface observations, and WSDDM is not the nationwide standard for this role.