Weather and Operational Parameters

Available parameters in NOVA.

Limit parameters define the environmental and atmospheric conditions under which an operation can safely take place. They are used in limit sets to automatically evaluate weather conditions and determine whether a mission can be executed safely.

Two types of limit sets exist:

Limit set type	Description
Aircraft type limit set	Defines the technical and physical limitations of the aircraft itself. These limits typically come from manufacturer specifications or certification documents.
Operational limit set	Defines mission-specific operational rules. These limits may come from regulations, company procedures, payload constraints, or risk assessments such as SORA.

Some parameters can be used in both types of limit sets, while others are only relevant for operational rules.

Wind

Parameter	Description	Aircraft type limit set	Operational limit set
Wind speed	Mean wind speed over a 1 hour interval	✓	✓
Wind gusts	Maximum wind gusts within a 1 hour interval	✓	✓
Gust factor	Difference between peak gust and mean wind speed	✓	✓

Temperature & Humidity

Parameter	Description	Aircraft type limit set	Operational limit set
Outside air temperature	Mean outside air temperature over a 1 hour interval	✓	✓
Dew point	Mean dew point temperature	✓	✓
Relative humidity	Mean relative humidity within a 1 hour interval		✓
Spread	Difference between outside air temperature and dew point	✓	✓

Clouds & Visibility

Parameter	Description	Aircraft type limit set	Operational limit set
Visibility	Horizontal visibility at ground level		✓
Cloud ceiling	Height of the lowest cloud layer covering more than half of the sky		✓
Cloud base	Lowest altitude of the visible portion of a cloud		✓
Cloud cover low	Cloud coverage between 0–2 km above ground level		✓
Cloud cover medium	Cloud coverage between 2–7 km above ground level		✓
Cloud cover high	Cloud coverage between 7–10 km above ground level		✓
Cloud cover total	Fraction of the sky covered by all clouds		✓

Precipitation & Snow

Parameter	Description	Aircraft type limit set	Operational limit set
Precipitation	Accumulated precipitation over a 1 hour interval	✓	✓
Precipitation prob.	Probability of precipitation during a 1 hour interval	✓	✓
Snow depth	Depth of snow on the ground	✓	✓
Snowfall probability	Probability of snowfall	✓	✓
Fresh snow 24h	Accumulated fresh snow within the last 24 hours	✓	✓

Atmospheric Stability

Parameter	Description	Aircraft type limit set	Operational limit set
CAPE index	Convective Available Potential Energy index indicating atmospheric instability	✓	✓
Lifted index	Atmospheric instability indicator based on parcel lifting	✓	✓
Thunderstorm prob.	Probability of thunderstorms within a 1 hour interval		✓

Icing & Radiation

Parameter	Description	Aircraft type limit set	Operational limit set
General icing	Indicator for possible icing conditions based on temperature and humidity	✓	✓
Icing potential	Forecast probability and intensity of icing conditions	✓	✓
Global radiation	Total solar radiation at ground level	✓	✓

Space Weather

Parameter	Description	Aircraft type limit set	Operational limit set
KP index	Geomagnetic disturbance index that may affect GNSS signals	✓	✓