Narrative:

I was working arrivals/finals. ZZZ tower called on the land line. I heard them ask 'do you want to go north?' tower will occasionally change configurations during the mid-shift; and I rarely question the motives or reasons. I responded 'let's go north'. I then input the command into the stars keyboard to change the room configuration so the data tags would indicate the correct runways. I then called all the affected center sectors to inform them of the new landing configuration. Several minutes later; aircraft X and aircraft Y entered my airspace from the southeast. I informed them to expect approaches to runway xxl; and that an updated ATIS should be coming out shortly to indicate the correct runways. I then vectored both aircraft towards the xxl final. When aircraft X was 20 miles south of the airport; he asked for an ILS approach; so I issued a clearance. 12 miles south of the airport; aircraft X asked if the localizer was up. At that point; I asked the departure controller to look at the ILS localizer status indicator to see if it was indicating the correct runways; as he had a better view of the screen. He informed me the localizers were still on the south runways. I called local and asked 'will you turn on the localizer for xxl?' [controller] responder 'yes'. At 8 mile final I again asked the [departure] controller if the xxl localizer had been switched over; and he said that it hadn't. I began to issue a visual approach clearance to aircraft X; but mid transmission I was interrupted by the departure controller. He had walked over to the traffic management unit (tmu) desk and glanced at the runway/taxiway monitor and saw that [tower] was launching an aircraft off runway xyr. He told me 'get him out of there; they're launching!' I quickly canceled both approach clearances (I had issued a visual approach clearance to aircraft Y prior). Tower called and said she was vectoring the departure and stopping them at 7;000; and then asked why I was coming into xxl. I told her it was because I had been called 15 minutes prior to 'go north'. As soon as I saw aircraft Z's data block appear on my scope; I issued a traffic call and applied visual separation as soon as possible. I then proceeded to issue runway changes to both aircraft and vector them to the xyl final. After I was relieved from position; I went to a computer where I could view a replay and listen to the audio. Although the coordination was somewhat scratchy; it did sound like the tower controller had said 'do you want to go noise?' proper phraseology would have gone a long way to prevent this misunderstanding. Typically I will hear 'go into noise' or something similar.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Arrival Controller reported a communication problem with Tower Controller that led to an unsafe operation.

Narrative: I was working Arrivals/Finals. ZZZ Tower called on the land line. I heard them ask 'Do you want to go north?' Tower will occasionally change configurations during the mid-shift; and I rarely question the motives or reasons. I responded 'Let's go north'. I then input the command into the STARS keyboard to change the room configuration so the data tags would indicate the correct runways. I then called all the affected center sectors to inform them of the new landing configuration. Several minutes later; Aircraft X and Aircraft Y entered my airspace from the southeast. I informed them to expect approaches to Runway XXL; and that an updated ATIS should be coming out shortly to indicate the correct runways. I then vectored both aircraft towards the XXL final. When Aircraft X was 20 miles south of the airport; he asked for an ILS approach; so I issued a clearance. 12 miles south of the airport; Aircraft X asked if the localizer was up. At that point; I asked the Departure Controller to look at the ILS localizer status indicator to see if it was indicating the correct runways; as he had a better view of the screen. He informed me the localizers were still on the south runways. I called Local and asked 'Will you turn on the localizer for XXL?' [Controller] responder 'Yes'. At 8 mile final I again asked the [Departure] Controller if the XXL localizer had been switched over; and he said that it hadn't. I began to issue a visual approach clearance to Aircraft X; but mid transmission I was interrupted by the Departure Controller. He had walked over to the Traffic Management Unit (TMU) desk and glanced at the runway/taxiway monitor and saw that [Tower] was launching an aircraft off Runway XYR. He told me 'Get him out of there; they're launching!' I quickly canceled both approach clearances (I had issued a visual approach clearance to Aircraft Y prior). Tower called and said she was vectoring the departure and stopping them at 7;000; and then asked why I was coming into XXL. I told her it was because I had been called 15 minutes prior to 'Go north'. As soon as I saw Aircraft Z's data block appear on my scope; I issued a traffic call and applied visual separation as soon as possible. I then proceeded to issue runway changes to both aircraft and vector them to the XYL final. After I was relieved from position; I went to a computer where I could view a replay and listen to the audio. Although the coordination was somewhat scratchy; it did sound like the tower controller had said 'Do you want to go noise?' Proper phraseology would have gone a long way to prevent this misunderstanding. Typically I will hear 'Go into noise' or something similar.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.