As
the new millennium dawns, the focus of U.S. Naval Oceanography remains one
of collecting oceanographic and meteorological data and fusing it into
tactically useful products and services that the fleet can use in near
real time. Today's world is a problematic and difficult one in which the
Navy must provide much of the nation's power-projection capabilities,
while also placing significant emphasis on sea control. The maritime
strategy of the next century is based to a large extent upon the concepts
of forward presence and knowledge superiority, both of which are directly
supported by naval oceanography and meteorology programs. Enemy mines,
conventionally powered submarines, and antiship cruise missiles challenge
the Navy's ability to operate in the littoral environment. More than ever
before, the fleet needs timely, reliable, environmental assessments of the
battlespace, and that is exactly what naval oceanographers and
meteorologists continue to work toward.
The
environmental sciences have been a foundation of U.S. national security
for a long time and will continue to be. For purely practical reasons, the
Navy established a "Depot of Charts and Instruments" in
Washington, D.C., in 1830, to make systematic observations of the sun,
moon, and stars so that the instruments used at sea to determine longitude
and latitude could be calibrated. For the fledgling nation's newly
established Navy, it was important to confirm the accuracy of the star
positions that were listed in whatever almanac the Navy was using, and the
time as kept by the ship's chronometer. The Depot took on the
responsibility for oceanographic studies in 1854, and was renamed the U.S.
Naval Observatory and Hydrographical Office; even earlier, though, its
superintendent, Lt. Matthew Fontaine Maury, had started collecting
critical oceanographic data on currents, tides, storms, sea temperatures,
soundings, and sea creature and iceberg sightings The questions remained,
though: How best to use the ocean currents? How best to predict the
weather and use it to advantage--or avoid it altogether?
The
challenge continues: Navy scientists must do whatever it takes to enable
the fleet to operate effectively in all weather and ocean conditions.
Today, astronomy and hydrography also fall under the purview of the
oceanographer of the Navy as disciplines within the five major categories
that make up today's Naval Oceanography program:
Precise
Time and Astrometry (PTA): Precise Time refers to the process of
establishing and maintaining the nation's precision time reference--the
Master Clock, which uses resonating atoms to measure time to within a
billionth of a second per day--and disseminating time data for both
military and civil use. Astrometry is the science of precisely determining
the position and motion of the sun, moon, stars, and planets for use in
navigation and guidance systems.
The
U.S. Naval Observatory, which reports to the oceanographer of the Navy,
administers the programs in precise time and astrometry, publishes
navigation almanacs, and determines the earth's orientation in space. The
data provided by the Observatory are essential for precision navigation
and targeting over land and sea, in the air, and in space.
Oceanography:
the study of the ocean's physical characteristics (salinity, temperature,
etc.), dynamics, chemistry, biology, and geophysics and their influences
on surface and underwater operations.
Meteorology:
the science of atmospheric phenomena (clouds, winds, moisture, etc.) and
their effects on the physical world, including airborne and surface
systems.
Geospatial
Information and Services (GI&S)--formerly called Mapping, Charting,
and Geodesy (MC&G): the measuring and charting of coastal and
deep-ocean waters, and their gravity and magnetic variations, to allow the
safe and effective operation and navigation of forces involved in
amphibious, surface, and submarine warfare. This discipline also
encompasses hydrography and electronic-navigation databases.
More
than 3,000 military and civilian personnel assigned to activities around
the world are now working in the Navy's operational oceanography program
under the leadership of Rear Adm. Richard D. West, oceanographer of the
Navy. Those activities include two major supercomputer facilities in Bay
St. Louis, Miss., and Monterey, Calif.; over 30 oceanography centers,
facilities, and detachments as far away as Adak, Alaska, and Diego Garcia
in the Indian Ocean; and aboard dozens of ships at sea. Astronomers and
support personnel at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.--and
at the Observatory's stations in Flagstaff, Ariz., Anderson Mesa, Ariz.,
Colorado Springs, Colo., and Cerro Tololo, Chile--also are working in the
Navy oceanography program.
The
collocation in Bay St. Louis of the commander, Naval Meteorology and
Oceanography Command (CNMOC), the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO),
and a Naval Research Laboratory detachment creates in Mississippi the
largest concentration of physical oceanographers anywhere in the world.
A
New Focus
With
the end of the Cold War, it has become clear that the principal focus of
naval operations will, for the foreseeable future, be in the shallow
coastal waters of the world. Warfare is now asymmetric, littoral, and
limited. The challenge today is to gain skills quickly in near-shore
environments while maintaining the deep-ocean capabilities that took Navy
oceanographers the last 50 years to develop and refine.
Navy
oceanographers are now in the process of shifting from thinking in scales
of hundreds of kilometers and days to scales of tens of meters and hours,
and of shifting from microseconds to picoseconds. These new frames of
reference demonstrate that, in addition to their traditional focus on
deep-water missions, naval oceanographers must also master the complicated
tangle of phenomena, and related problems, that make up the science of the
littoral, or near-shore, areas: tidal pulses, beach profiles, reefs, bars,
shallows, shoals, channels, sediment transport, fine-scale hydrography,
turbidity, land cover and terrain, dust, traffic, rain rates, river
runoffs, sub-bottom characteristics, and biologics, as well as the complex
weather patterns typical of any coastal area.
The
Navy's new focus on littoral operations has created a large backlog of
high-priority oceanographic, hydrographic, and geophysical survey
requirements. To meet those requirements, oceanographers employ
traditional platforms (ships, submarines, planes), as well as new
technologies (satellites, remote sensors, unmanned vehicles, etc.)--while
also leveraging the resources of other national and international
agencies.
Increased
public awareness of the global ocean has been growing since the
International Year of the Ocean, 1998. In June of that year, during the
National Ocean Conference held at the Naval Postgraduate School in
Monterey, Calif., President Clinton directed his cabinet to prepare a
comprehensive report that would include "recommendations for a
coordinated, disciplined, long-term federal ocean policy." A final
report was submitted to the president in September 1999. He then
established a task force to implement its recommendations. Key among them
was a proposal to develop an integrated ocean observing system. Recent
technological developments and new state-of-the-art sensing techniques
have improved the quality of ocean observations, but significant gaps in
important data still exist in many ocean areas of the world.
To
reinforce the Task Force's recommendations, the oceanographer of the Navy
also released a statement last year on the vital need for sustained and
coordinated ocean observations to support national security. The
oceanographer's statement, which emphasizes the Navy's desire to work with
other agencies in developing a fully operational, integrated, global ocean
observing system, calls for improved coordination of data collection and
dissemination to: (a) improve weather forecasting; (b) enhance detection
and forecasting of the ocean components of climate variability; and (c)
ensure the safety and success of all naval/maritime/military operations.
The
sophistication of new high-technology communications, weapons systems, and
sensors demands higher-resolution environmental data for optimum
performance. To provide a real-time assessment of the battlespace, Navy
oceanographers develop the capability to sense the environment with
smaller remote sensors and quickly assimilate the data generated to
provide the warfighter with greater spatial and temporal resolution, even
in areas denied to U.S. ships and aircraft. To accomplish their mission,
naval oceano-graphers draw on all five of the geophysical disciplines
listed previously.
The
oceanographer of the Navy's lower-echelon commands provide meteorological
support for Navy units, meteorological products to the U.S. Marine Corps,
and oceanographic and precise time support to all elements of the
Department of Defense. Basic oceanographic and meteorological research and
exploratory development are funded by the chief of naval research (CNR).
Applied research--the development of new sensors and tactical support
systems--is funded both by CNR and the oceanographer of the Navy and is
conducted by Navy laboratories and by the Navy's "Systems
Commands" and their contractors. Operational support to ships,
aircraft, and shore stations is provided by various CNMOC activities.
Direct support to staffs, ships, and commands afloat and ashore is
provided by the teams of officer and enlisted meteor-ology and
oceanography (METOC) personnel assigned to fleet units. Among the
principal shore activities of the naval far-flung oceanography community
are the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC), the
Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), the Naval Ice Center (NIC--part of
the National Ice Center), six theater METOC centers--in Yokosuka (Japan),
Pearl Harbor, San Diego, Norfolk, Rota (Spain), and Bahrain--four other
facilities (in Naples, Italy; Jacksonville and Pensacola, Fla.; and
Whidbey Island, Wash.), 39 detachments, and the Joint Typhoon Warning
Center in Pearl Harbor.
There
are today approximately 430 oceanography officers, 1,600 enlisted METOC
specialists (Aerographer's Mates (AGs)), and over 1,400 civilian personnel
working in billets throughout the naval oceanography community. These men
and women provide a wide range of services to the modern fleet. Their
expertise includes area weather forecasting, aviation flight forecasting,
amphibious assault beach forecasts, electromagnetic forecasts (for radar
performance), ocean acoustics forecasting (for concealing and hunting
submarines), and electro-optic forecasts (for visible and infrared
detection systems) as well as several specialized forecasts for specific
weapon systems and special operations warfare. In short, they help the
warfighter take maximum tactical advantage of the environment.
They
also support the operational fleet from a variety of platforms. The six
regional centers, which coordinate environmental services over the entire
world, provide weather forecasts and optimum routing services for ships at
sea, and customized services to nearby type commanders (air, surface,
submarine, and special operations) and shore activities. METOC detachments
are located at all naval air facilities and selected other bases.
METOC
personnel also are assigned as permanent crewmembers on aircraft carriers,
selected amphibious assault ships, and staff command and control ships. As
components of mobile deployment teams, they also embark on smaller ships
for specialized missions, and support a wide variety of shore-based
exercises and operations as well.
The
Oceanographic Fleet
"For
oceanographers, the sea itself is the laboratory, and the adequacy of
ships used will significantly affect the oceanographer's ability to work
at sea." This statement, by Rear Adm. William Behrens in 1971, is as
true today as it was then. To enhance the oceanographer's ability to work
even more effectively in the first decades of the new millennium, the
transition to a "modernized" Navy survey-and-research fleet is
nearing completion. New oceanographic survey ships will allow Navy
oceanographers to deploy anywhere--in any ocean, at any time--to more
efficiently collect an enormous amount of precise data that can be used to
generate the products needed to meet the Navy's high-technology warfare
requirements. A number of Navy research vessels, which are operated by
academic research institutions, also have been upgraded (or newly
constructed) to conduct multipurpose, multidisciplinary scientific
investigations with the most sophisticated equipment available. Again, the
words of Admiral Behrens are applicable: "We are caught in a
paradoxical web. The more we learn and the further we venture, the greater
the demands we place on our facilities. Our new tools of yesterday thus
become tomorrow's obsolescent ships." For the near future, though,
the Navy's oceanographic fleet will be ready to meet the challenges facing
it.
Two
coastal survey ships (AGSs), USNS McDonnell and USNS Littlehales, have
been operational since 1991. Each is 208 feet long and displaces 2,000
tons. Four multipurpose military survey ships (of the T-AGS 60 class) are
deployed globally: USNS Pathfinder, USNS Sumner, USNS Bowditch, and USNS
Henson. Each is 328 feet long and displaces 4,700 tons. A fifth ship of
the class, USNS Bruce C. Heezen, will be delivered in January 2000.
Construction
of a sixth T-AGS 60 ship also has started: delivery of that ship is
scheduled for December 2001. Named for oceanographer Mary Sears--whose
research while serving in the Navy WAVES during World War II was critical
to the survivability of U.S. submarines during the war--it is the Navy's
first oceanographic ship to be named for a woman.
A
parallel modernization program for Navy-owned research ships also is
nearing completion. In addition to the five AGORs currently owned by the
Navy and operated by the academic community, a new research ship, to be
operated by the University of Hawaii, will employ the unconventional SWATH
(Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull) design. The ship design phase already
has been completed and a contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin; the
ships will be built at the Atlantic Marine shipyard in Jacksonville, Fla.
Training
and Education
In
the naval oceanographic community, training and education are constantly
emphasized. All of the Navy's meteorology/oceanography (METOC) officers
are required to earn master's degrees in air/ocean science, usually at the
Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. A two-year master's degree
program in oceanography sponsored by the secretary of the Navy also
enrolls one student per year in a curriculum administered jointly by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution. Although it is a small community, approximately 25 percent of
all of the Navy's doctoral billets are filled by METOC officers.
The
Navy's enlisted METOC personnel (Aerographer's Mates) receive initial
training at the AG "A" school at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss.
The 10-week school introduces new personnel to the basics of meteorology
and oceanography, the principal tools and equipment used in environmental
measurements and analyses, environmental codes, graphs and charts, weather
observation procedures, and some rudimentary forecasting skills.
After
completing a minimum of one tour of duty, METOC enlisted personnel are
eligible for assignment to the AG "C" forecasting school. This
28-week school provides intensive training in physics and atmospheric
dynamics, forecasting skills, and tactical considerations. Graduates
become certified weather forecasters. Follow-on fleet-level training--such
as that provided by the Joint METOC Tactical Applications Course (JMTAC)
and/or the Tactical Oceanographic Workshop (TOW)--allows AGs to hone their
skills and keep up with the latest techniques and advances.
Forecasting
the Atmosphere and Oceans
The
Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center in Monterey is the
Navy's, and DOD's, state-of-the-art supercomputer center running global
and high-resolution theater and regional-scale atmospheric and
oceanographic analyses and forecast models. The center receives global
environmental data through links with DOD and NOAA data-distribution
systems. Numerically generated products are distributed on Navy and joint
command-and-control systems via the Navy theater METOC centers, which then
develop value-added products and services tailored to specific military
operations in their areas of responsibility.
In
addition to its standard product line, the FNMOC is uniquely capable of
providing high-resolution forecast products on short notice for any
regional area in support of global military and/or humanitarian
contingencies. In the event that NOAA's National Center for Environmental
Prediction loses its ability to generate CONUS (Continental United States)
numerical weather prediction products, FNMOC has been designated the
national backup. That contingency plan became critical in 1999.
The
Naval Oceanographic Office is not only responsible for collecting,
processing, and distributing oceanographic, hydrographic, and other
geophysical data and products, but also serves as the Navy's primary
processing facility for NOAA polar-orbiting satellite data, and has been
designated a national "Center of Expertise" for measurements of
sea-surface temperatures. Moreover, because it is both an operational
data-processing center and a DOD Major Shared Resource Center, the
research-and-development programs using NAVOCEANO's large array of Cray
and Silicon Graphics supercomputers can be easily adapted to run Navy
operational METOC models.
Additionally,
NAVOCEANO's Warfighting Support Center (WSC) provides near-real-time,
tailored oceanographic products to support U.S. naval/military operations.
Those products include, but are not limited to: global ocean-front and
eddy analyses; preprocessed multichannel sea-surface temperature analyses
from polar-orbiting satellites; satellite altimetry and scatterometry
data; high-resolution ocean model output, data, and imagery from
intelligence satellites; and support of various types for special
operations forces. The WSC serves as probably the most prominent example
of the Navy's increased emphasis on littoral support.
Tailored
ice forecasts and analyses are provided to a multitude of customers by the
National Ice Center located in Suitland, Md., and jointly operated by the
Navy, NOAA, and the U.S. Coast Guard. The NIC provides--to both civil and
military activities--sea and lake ice analyses as well as forecasts for
the Arctic and Antarctic regions, coastal U.S. waters, and the Great
Lakes.
CNMOC's
six theater METOC centers provide broad geographical METOC services within
their areas of responsibility. The centers manage and prioritize the
dissemination of basic numerical products, provide full-spectrum
meteorological and oceanographic services, and generate the tailored
products needed to support theater and other special requirements.
Routinely prepared reports include high winds and seas warnings, area and
local forecasts, en route ship weather forecasts, routing services,
tactical forecasts, and ship track-routing recommendations. The METOC
center in Pearl Harbor and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), with
the U.S. Air Force, issue tropical cyclone warnings to DOD and other U.S.
agencies and offices in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, and in the
Eastern and Central South Pacific.
The
primary sources of on-scene Navy meteorological and oceanographic support
for forces afloat and ashore in-theater are provided by permanently
embarked Navy METOC personnel, or by deployable assets--Mobile
Environmental Teams (METs). The Navy's permanent afloat meteorology and
oceanography assets are designated Operational Aerography (OA) Divisions,
embarked aboard major aviation-capable combatants and command ships. They
interpret weather and ocean conditions to ensure the optimum use and
operational safety of weapons and sensors; they also provide tailored
on-scene products and services to the assigned task force/group and allied
units in Navy, joint, or coalition military and humanitarian
operations.
The
METs, the Navy's most deployable METOC assets, provide short-term on-scene
services to units and activities that do not have METOC personnel
permanently assigned. They are assigned their own portable sensing,
processing, and display equipment, and have the ability to set up a Navy
automated weather station at remote sites to provide direct readout and/or
transmission of the data received via satellite. The METs also deploy with
portable systems: (a) to receive, display, and manipulate geostationary
meteorological satellite imagery; (b) to acquire and display the latest
gridded data fields available from FNMOC's numerical model analyses and
forecasts; and (c) to receive enhanced ocean satellite imagery from
NAVOCEANO. MET units routinely deploy to ships and shore sites with
self-contained satellite and communications receivers, tactical forecast
software for acoustic atmospheric refractivity, and weather forecasts
based on real-time environmental measurements.
To
be even more effective in future conflicts, the rapid development of
technologies requires that the U.S. Navy remain interoperable with U.S.
allies. That interoperability will be vastly improved in combined
operations by the development of and experience with the Allied
Environmental Support System (AESS), which is sold to U.S. allies through
the Foreign Military Sales program. AESS, which is similar to U.S. TESS
systems, will ensure that the United States and its allies have access to
the same meteorological and oceanographic products during combined
operations. The AESS is already the centerpiece of shore-based METOC
support for NATO and several non-NATO allied navies.
International
Agreements
The
U.S. Navy already has in place cooperative agreements with nearly 30
countries for the collection of survey data. These programs are among the
most cost-effective ways of leveraging allied efforts to address U.S.
requirements for data in various littoral regions of the world. The
Hydrographic Cooperation Program (HYCOOP) focuses on the collection of
hydrographic data for the production of nautical charts and related
products. Another initiative, the Oceanographic Cooperation Program (OCOOP),
focuses on oceanographic data collection to satisfy mutual mine-warfare or
antisubmarine- warfare requirements. Under both programs, the partner
nation provides the survey platform, some equipment, and operating
personnel; the U.S. Navy contributes its technical expertise and
specialized equipment for cooperative use during the surveys.
As
changes in world politics drive increased opportunities for cooperative
oceanographic agreements and survey access, technological evolution is
driving changes in the requirements for data obtained through these
agreements. A significant example of this latter evolution is the
requirement for digital nautical data that can be used in
electronic-charting navigation systems. Naval Oceanography is keeping pace
with technology in this area by incorporating requirements for digital
data within new cooperative oceanographic agreements. During the past year
the cooperative oceanographic program has remained extremely active with
military survey ships operating in the East and South China Seas, the
Arabian Gulf, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean. Negotiations also are
in progress on nearly a dozen new international agreements.
Success
on the Battlefield
A
measure of the success of the Navy's oceanographic programs was seen in
1999 during the 78-day conflict in Kosovo. The accuracy of the weapons
used depended not only on the accuracy but also on the timeliness of the
environmental information available to the task force commander. The
requirement to integrate weather, oceanography, and terrain data colored
every aspect of the Kosovo operations from air strikes to logistics. MET
teams served on the task group and battle group commanders' ships to
provide full-spectrum forecasts on the environment's effects on
electromagnetic and acoustic sensors and weapons.
The
teams depended on meteorological and oceanographic information available
from satellite downlinks--both direct satellite visible and infrared
photos and satellite data links of classified homepages with the latest
forecasts and data. The battlespace ranged from the Adriatic Sea to the
shallow littorals to targets ashore. Local observations of the
meteorological and oceanographic conditions were entered into tactical
decision aids to forecast specific weapons system or sensor performance in
the atmosphere or ocean.
Environmental
information also was used to evaluate the enemy threat. Detection and
performance forecasts for shore-based enemy Styx missile sites and Sava-class
attack submarines were provided to U.S battleforce planners. Data on
surface and subsurface currents, as well as bathymetry and bottom type
information, was provided to counter possible mine-warfare operations by
the enemy. Acoustic forecasts and detection and counterdetection ranges
were forecast for undersea warfare operations. (Undersea warfare still
plays an active role in Mediterranean operations, so the Navy's ability to
track and prosecute submarines was thoroughly tested.)
The
strike planners required the full array of environmental tools helpful in
modern warfare: climatology well in advance of the attack for planning;
long-range forecasts to choose the optimum window of opportunity; and
short-range "snapshot" forecasts for en route and target
conditions. The Naval METOC Command is structured to provide just such
support. The production capacity at the Naval Oceanographic Office, for
example, allows it to produce large-scale full-color Special Annotated
Imagery Littoral (SAIL) studies of the littoral battlefield, or Special
Tactical Oceanographic Information Charts (STOICs).
For
the Kosovo operations these were transmitted to large-format printers at
the Naples Oceanography Detachment, collocated with the battle planners.
Specific computer models also were run for the area to predict mine drift,
swell and wind waves, and sea height. Meanwhile, the Fleet Numerical METOC
Center moved its nested grid model to the Adriatic to begin more detailed
9-kilometer resolution COAMPS (Coupled Ocean-Atmospheric Mesoscale
Prediction System) forecasting for the area.
The
COAMPS forecasts were used in combination with the Navy Operational Global
Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS) and other systems. The METOC
regional center in Rota, Spain, provided operational area forecasts,
Tomahawk launch forecasts, amphibious landing forecasts, satellite
enhancements on the web page, and MODAS (Modular Oceanographic Data
Assimilation System) oceanographic fields to initialize tactical-scale
models in the field.
This
METOC concept of operations--defining the battlespace for the commander
with on-scene tactical meteorology and oceanography, fed by mesoscale
regional forecasting, initialized by long- and mid-range dynamic modeling
of the air/ocean from the supercomputer centers in the United States--was
a determining factor in bringing the war to a successful conclusion. The
end result was made possible, though, only by having available, and using,
the latest in communications technology and the pyramid of support
collectively provided by the onboard forecaster, the regional center, and
the stateside production centers. In short, the METOC concept of
operations was thoroughly tested and proven, during very difficult weather
and oceanography conditions--making a significant contribution to the U.S.
and allied military operations.
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