The White Falcon - 31.03.1978, Síða 1

Channel two weather chart explained
Relax with music and weather on AFRTS
Channel 2. The current report from the
Naval Weather Service Environmental De-
tachment (NWSED) is displayed contin-
uously for everyone's use.
Although the screen may look compli-
cated, it's really a fairly simple code,
describing in detail the weather at the
NATO base. And it's updated every hour
on the hour.
The weather is coded several differ-
ent ways, but the easiest one to read
is the part right after the word "AVIA-
TION".
In order, cloud height and amount of
cloud cover, prevailing visibility and
any weather changes to visibility, sea
level pressure, air temperature, dew
point temperature, wind direction and
speed, aircraft altimeter setting (you
can set your home barometer to this
value) and remarks are covered in a
few lines after the word "AVIATION".
Here is a typical sequence:
AVIATION 15 SCT 30 OVC 3SW-981/32/30/
3511G25/897.
Cloud cover reported in symbols
The amount of cloud cover is repor-
ted in symbols such as SCT which means
scattered clouds or partly cloudy; BKN
meaning broken clouds or mostly cloudy,
OVC meaning overcast or cloudy and oc-
casionally CLR or clear skies.
The cloud bases are reported in
hundreds of feet. For example, eight
means 800 feet and 25 means 2,500 feet.
So, the first part of the example
should read: Scattered clouds and
1,500 feet and overcast clouds at
3,000 feet.
Occasionally, the height will be
prefixed by a letter which means that
the height is M=measured, E=estimated
or W=indefinite. An "X" means that
the sky is obscured by snow fall, for
instance.
Prevailing visibility given in miles
Prevailing visibility is reported
next, in miles, with the weather changes
to visibility (if any) following. If
the visibility is seven miles or great-
er, normally no weather change is re-
ported.
The letters "L", "R" and "RW" mean
drizzle, rain or rain showers while "S",
"SW" or "SP" mean some type of snow.
"BS" means blowing snow and "F" stands
for fog.
Minus or plus signs, following the
letters, indicate light or heavy weather
variations. In the example given, the
visibility is three miles on the average,
changed by light snow showers.
Millibars denote sea level pressure
Sea level pressure is next. This
value is reported in millibars and the
first digit is omitted. Sea level
pressure at Keflavik ranges between 940
and 1,025 millibars. The pressure in
the example is 998.1 millibars.
Confused? Well, it takes a’ little
practice, but soon you'll get the hang
of it and amaze your stateside friends
The next group of numbers are the
air temperature (32 degrees Fahrenheit
in the example) and the dew point tem-
perature (30 degrees F). If the two
numbers are ver% far apart, watch for
static electricity because the atmo-
sphere is dry. If the air temperature
is below 39 degrees Fahrenheit, watch
for icy roads and sidewalks.
The next four digits are wind di-
rection and speed: Gusty winds are
indicated after the letter "G". In
the example, 3511G25 should read:
Winds from the north-northwest at 11
knots, gusting to 25 knots.
Directions are simple: North is 36,
east is 09, south is 18 and west is 27,
just like on a compass. Remember, the
wind is from the indicated direction.
Finally, the next group of numbers
tells the aircraft altimeter setting.
This value is always around 28, 29 or 30
inches of mercury and the first digit is
omitted. So, 897 means 28.97 inches.
Set this number on your home barometer.
TREND indicates six-hour forecast
There is a "TREND" forecast on the
bottom half of the screen. This is an
outlook for the next six hours and is
coded like the aviation sequence line.
"VT" indicates valid time. TREND fore-
cast lines, following the words "TEMPO",
"INTER" or "GRADU", describe weather
conditions that are expected TEMPOrarily
or INTERmittently (more frequently than
TEMPO) or GRADUally throughout the fore-
cast period.
The people at the NWSED are there to
answer your questions. The detachment
is located on the second floor of Bldg.
810 (Navy Air Terminal). Call 7829 for
questions about Channel 2 or 4331 for
the latest recorded weather.
Volume 34 Number 13
Keflavik, Iceland
March 31, 1978
Naval station
member wins
award
Construction Electrician First Class
Harold D. Pape, Public Works Department
power line supervisor, has been selected
by the Society of American Military En-
gineers as recipient of the Marvin
Shields award for 1977.
The Marvin Shields award honors a
heroic Seabee who was killed in action.
The award is offered annually to an
enlisted Seabee who has demonstrated
technical and leadership skills in mili-
tary construction or maintenance.
Air Force Association
Membership d
The Air Force Association will
start its annual Keflavik membership
drive, beginning tomorrow.
AFA is a national nonprofit or-
ganization with no personal, political
or commercial interests. It pub-
lishes Air Force magazine, the largest
aerospace magazine in the free world,
and currently has more than 155,000
members including both active duty and
civilian personnel.
The association's record for the
past 31 years, working for the Air
Force and its people is second to none,
a membership spokesman states. Most
importantly, the organization draws no
line in going to bat for every man and
woman in the Air Force, military or
civilian, campaign officials say.
Air Force Chief of Staff General
David C. Jones Jr. has also endorsed
Los Angeles Community College Over-
seas will be offering two new courses,
beginning April 10. The first is
Accounting II. The class focuses on
principles and procedures relating to
partnerships and corporations. Subjects
such as cost, branch and departmental
accounting will be introduced as well as
interpretation of financial statements
and management controls. Students will
have individual work papers to further
enhance understanding of the subject.
The second class offered will be
Oral Communications. The goal of the
CE1 Pape was selected for his ex-
ceptional leadership and management
abilities as power line supervisor.
Stationed in Iceland for the past
three years, CE1 Harold Pape was at a
loss for words when he received the
award Wednesday. Lieutenant Ronald
Hudson, assistant Public Works officer,
commented, "CE1 Pape was well-surprised,
but more than well-deserved."
CE1 Pape was selected as "Seabee of
the Year" at the Public Works Depart-
rive tomorrow
the campaign by saying that "AFA is
the one professional airpower society
which continually works for the entire
Air Force community."
The AFA is open to all United States
citizens. Dues are $13 per year or
$30 for a three-year period.
As an added incentive to join the
AFA during this drive, AFA will send to
all new members signing up in April a
special bonus issue of Air Force maga-
zine. This bonus issue is entitled the
Soviet Aerospace Almanac and contains
indepth information on the Soviet Air
Force that is available from no other
single source in the free world.
The Junior Officers' Council and
Enlisted Advisory Council are jointly
sponsoring the membership drive. For
information or application call Lieu-
tenant Jim Uken at 4675 or 4671.
class is for each student to become a
more effective speaker and listener.
The class is open to all interested in-
dividuals. Subjects include public
speaking, how to prepare a speech, how
to better relate to other individuals
and is particularly useful for super-
visors who wish to enhance employer-
employee relations.
Registration for both classes is
Monday through April 7 at the Navy
Campus Bldg. 638. Sign-ups will be
taken from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1
to 5 p.m.
ment annual ball in March 1977. After-
wards, he was nominated by the Public
Works Department for ,the Marvin Shields
award.
"As the supervisor of maintenance
and repair of all overhead electrical
power distribution, everyone on this
base who goes to flick a light switch
on expects the light to work and its my
job to make sure that the public gets
the reaction they expect," CE1 Pape says.
To all Seabees nominated for the
Marvin Shields award, CE1 Pape displays
hard work, professional competence, de-
dication and pride in the Navy.
Viewing the keen competition by Seabees
throughout the world, Petty Officer
Pape and Naval Station Keflavik can be
proud of his selection for this coveted
award, the citation points out.
TV
A television survey was distributed
last August to various departments and
commands throughout the Naval Station.
A total of 3,000 surveys were sent by
Navy Broadcasting Service, Detachment
Eight. There were 797 forms returned
to the detachment and the results
follow:
The majority of those polled—72 per
cent—were day shift workers and the
most preferred viewing time was from 6
to 10 p.m. Most of the viewers indicat-
ed that they view AFTV an average of
four or more hours daily.
In the sports department, 485 respon-
dents indicated a preference for less
sports while 312 indicated a desire for
more sports coverage on Channel Four.
M*A*S*H was the runaway victor for
the "favorite program" category. Fol-
lowing close behind M*A*S*H were Baret-
ta, Starsky and Hutch, NBC Mystery
Movie, Star Trek and Charlie's Angels.
Several of the programs listed as
favorites are not presently being aired
AWARD WINNER—CE1 Harold D. Pape,
Public Works Department, was
selected as the recipient of the
1977 Marvin Shields Award by the
Society of American Military
fngineers.
opinions
at this detachment but were on during
the time of the survey.
Channel Four's "family viewing hours"
were satisfactory to 65 per cent of the
respondents. This station attempts to
schedule family type shows from 7 to
9 p.m.
The recent television survey rein-
forced the fact that the majority of the
viewing audience is under the age of 30.
The 21-25 age group comprised 33 per
cent of the survey returns while 70 per
cent of the viewing audience was com-
prised of the 20-year-old or under
through 30 years of age.
Three hundred-twenty respondents
were high school graduates while 337 had
some college education.
The final results of the television
survey have been forwarded to the Ameri-
can Forces Radio and Television Service,
Los Angeles and to the Director, U.S.
Broadcasting Service, Washington. The
survey will be studied by both commands
to learn the preference of the NATO base
audience.
LACCO registration
New courses announced
viewers voice