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JOHN HARDING AND JAMES RIGNEY
With the Cold War over, Navy leadership again reemphasized the
importance of nearshore warfare requirements (Dalton et al., 1994; Kelso et
al., 1992) such as MIW and AW and with a growing important role for naval
special warfare (NSW). ASW, no longer the dominant warfare area,
remained a significant requirement and again has arisen in importance in the
21
st century (Kreisher, 2004). Technological change has greatly influenced
the nature of these transformations. The longer time scales of navigational
charting and ocean data base creation, while still important, are being
superseded by more immediate response capabilities where near-real-time
oceanographic knowledge can now provide relevant environmental
information within the warfighter’s tactical decision loop (Burnett et al.,
2002).
Key to this faster response time is the operational oceanographer’s ability
to understand the language and needs of the warfighter. This ability allows
the translation of oceanographic knowledge into operationally significant
information, allowing the warfighter to more efficiently and safely perform
his job.
Participation by the U.S. Navy in the Global Ocean Data Assimilation
Experiment (GODAE) is a key element in providing these relevant, real-time
products. While the regions within ~200 km of coastal regions are presently
major concerns for the U.S. Navy, the GODAE emphasis, namely the
creation of assimilative global and regional ocean prediction capability
(Smith and Lefebvre, 1997), is also required. These larger domain
prediction systems can supply important information to open-ocean ASW
needs, provide boundary conditions to high resolution coastal models, and
eventually supply global capability of sufficiently high horizontal resolution
to be directly applicable to the warfighter in nearshore areas.
2.
What is operational oceanography?
For the U.S. Navy, operational oceanography encompasses the fields of
physical and optical oceanography, hydrography, bathymetry, acoustics, and
marine geophysics. However, we will limit our discussion mainly to that
sub-discipline of primary interest to GODAE, namely physical
oceanography.
“Providing relevant oceanographic knowledge to the warfighter”
succinctly summarizes the goal of U.S. Navy operational oceanography. To
accomplish this requires smart data collection, focused analysis, and
responsive delivery. The essential data must be collected either ahead of an
operation, based on anticipated operational needs, or in near-real-time,
directly associated with a specific operation. The specific analysis may
focus on direct processing of these data via either statistical methods or more
effectively through their assimilation into dynamic ocean models, thus
resulting in an ocean prediction system. Finally, the results of this analysis
JOHN HARDING AND JAMES RIGNEY
With the Cold War over, Navy leadership again reemphasized the
importance of nearshore warfare requirements (Dalton et al., 1994; Kelso et
al., 1992) such as MIW and AW and with a growing important role for naval
special warfare (NSW). ASW, no longer the dominant warfare area,
remained a significant requirement and again has arisen in importance in the
21
st century (Kreisher, 2004). Technological change has greatly influenced
the nature of these transformations. The longer time scales of navigational
charting and ocean data base creation, while still important, are being
superseded by more immediate response capabilities where near-real-time
oceanographic knowledge can now provide relevant environmental
information within the warfighter’s tactical decision loop (Burnett et al.,
2002).
Key to this faster response time is the operational oceanographer’s ability
to understand the language and needs of the warfighter. This ability allows
the translation of oceanographic knowledge into operationally significant
information, allowing the warfighter to more efficiently and safely perform
his job.
Participation by the U.S. Navy in the Global Ocean Data Assimilation
Experiment (GODAE) is a key element in providing these relevant, real-time
products. While the regions within ~200 km of coastal regions are presently
major concerns for the U.S. Navy, the GODAE emphasis, namely the
creation of assimilative global and regional ocean prediction capability
(Smith and Lefebvre, 1997), is also required. These larger domain
prediction systems can supply important information to open-ocean ASW
needs, provide boundary conditions to high resolution coastal models, and
eventually supply global capability of sufficiently high horizontal resolution
to be directly applicable to the warfighter in nearshore areas.
2.
What is operational oceanography?
For the U.S. Navy, operational oceanography encompasses the fields of
physical and optical oceanography, hydrography, bathymetry, acoustics, and
marine geophysics. However, we will limit our discussion mainly to that
sub-discipline of primary interest to GODAE, namely physical
oceanography.
“Providing relevant oceanographic knowledge to the warfighter”
succinctly summarizes the goal of U.S. Navy operational oceanography. To
accomplish this requires smart data collection, focused analysis, and
responsive delivery. The essential data must be collected either ahead of an
operation, based on anticipated operational needs, or in near-real-time,
directly associated with a specific operation. The specific analysis may
focus on direct processing of these data via either statistical methods or more
effectively through their assimilation into dynamic ocean models, thus
resulting in an ocean prediction system. Finally, the results of this analysis