USE OF ABBREVIATIONS IN WEATHER INFORMATION BROADCASTS BY NAVTEX Summary A range of standard abbreviations will be introduced to weather forecasts broadcast on the International NAVTEX (518 kHz) service, commencing on 1 November 2006. Background The volume of traffic on the international NAVTEX service has increased since its inception, and on occasions timeslots can overrun due to the length of messages needing to be broadcast. The most efficient and effective method for reducing the length of meteorological messages is to utilise some form of abbreviations. This, however, can only be achieved by using standard and strictly controlled abbreviations, which are common internationally. The World Meteorological Organisation has undertaken the management of these abbreviations, which were ratified at the Second Session of the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology, in September 2005. The list of abbreviations is as follows: COMMON ABBREVIATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL NAVTEX SERVICE All wind directions to be abbreviated as indicated below.
“Expected” and “Latitude/Longitude” should, when possible, be omitted in the messages. Please click on the link for a printable version of the table navtex_abbreviations_table.pdf |
