476
JOHN HARDING AND JAMES RIGNEY
when speeds would be low and water level high in order to provide the safest
environment for the divers responsible for eliminating the mine threat. As
noted earlier, R&D-quality evaluation data are rarely available in this sort of
operational situation; however, anecdotal feedback from the MIW squadron
responsible suggested this environmental information reduced the mine
countermeasure operations by 2 to 3 months (Steve Haeger, NAVOCEANO,
personal communication).
4.3
Link to GODAE
While U.S. naval oceanography has a major focus on nearshore, highresolution capabilities, a key issue connects it to the GODAE effort. The
U.S. Navy has global responsibilities with different geographic areas having
potentially different dominant ocean dynamics affecting the warfighter. For
instance, in a limited domain such as the northern Persian Gulf, tides and
wind-forced currents may be the dominant oceanographic impact on NSW
diver operations. In a more open coastal area like the U.S. west coast, front
and eddy features associated with mesoscale dynamics or coastally trapped
waves generated by meteorological events hundreds or even thousands of
kilometers distant may add significant time-dependent variability that can
affect a coastal mission. Until computer resources become sufficient to run
a global model at resolutions to accurately describe the required dynamics, a
nesting approach (figure 5) is required. Burnett et al. (2002) provides a table
of current operational or near-operational prediction systems, from ocean
currents to thermal structure to surface waves, and how they are used. The
present global, dynamic ocean prediction capability is based on a
combination of the Navy Layered Ocean Model (NLOM) and the global
application of the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) as described by
Rhodes et al. (2002). By 2007, NAVOCEANO plans to operationally run a
system based on the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) as
described by Chassignet et al. (2005, this volume). The present operational,
regional capability, SWAFS, was described earlier with several regional
applications of NCOM planned for transition. For high-resolution coastal
domains, NAVOCEANO presently uses several models with the expected
future direction focusing increasingly on the finite element approach used in
the ADvanced CIRCulation model (ADCIRC) (Blain et al., 2002). In
general, the Navy must be prepared to take a global view to get a coastal
environmental description.
An obvious example is the propagation of swell energy generated from
southern Pacific storms that can affect surf forecasts on the U.S. West Coast.
Westward propagating mesoscale eddies can bring open-ocean mesoscale
energy into the South China Sea through the Luzon Strait from the Pacific
,
,
,
(Metzger and Hurlburt, 2001) or affect the southeast coast of the Arabian
Peninsula after propagating westward across the Arabian Sea. Global
prediction capabilities are also important to operational forecasters in areas
JOHN HARDING AND JAMES RIGNEY
when speeds would be low and water level high in order to provide the safest
environment for the divers responsible for eliminating the mine threat. As
noted earlier, R&D-quality evaluation data are rarely available in this sort of
operational situation; however, anecdotal feedback from the MIW squadron
responsible suggested this environmental information reduced the mine
countermeasure operations by 2 to 3 months (Steve Haeger, NAVOCEANO,
personal communication).
4.3
Link to GODAE
While U.S. naval oceanography has a major focus on nearshore, highresolution capabilities, a key issue connects it to the GODAE effort. The
U.S. Navy has global responsibilities with different geographic areas having
potentially different dominant ocean dynamics affecting the warfighter. For
instance, in a limited domain such as the northern Persian Gulf, tides and
wind-forced currents may be the dominant oceanographic impact on NSW
diver operations. In a more open coastal area like the U.S. west coast, front
and eddy features associated with mesoscale dynamics or coastally trapped
waves generated by meteorological events hundreds or even thousands of
kilometers distant may add significant time-dependent variability that can
affect a coastal mission. Until computer resources become sufficient to run
a global model at resolutions to accurately describe the required dynamics, a
nesting approach (figure 5) is required. Burnett et al. (2002) provides a table
of current operational or near-operational prediction systems, from ocean
currents to thermal structure to surface waves, and how they are used. The
present global, dynamic ocean prediction capability is based on a
combination of the Navy Layered Ocean Model (NLOM) and the global
application of the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) as described by
Rhodes et al. (2002). By 2007, NAVOCEANO plans to operationally run a
system based on the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) as
described by Chassignet et al. (2005, this volume). The present operational,
regional capability, SWAFS, was described earlier with several regional
applications of NCOM planned for transition. For high-resolution coastal
domains, NAVOCEANO presently uses several models with the expected
future direction focusing increasingly on the finite element approach used in
the ADvanced CIRCulation model (ADCIRC) (Blain et al., 2002). In
general, the Navy must be prepared to take a global view to get a coastal
environmental description.
An obvious example is the propagation of swell energy generated from
southern Pacific storms that can affect surf forecasts on the U.S. West Coast.
Westward propagating mesoscale eddies can bring open-ocean mesoscale
energy into the South China Sea through the Luzon Strait from the Pacific
,
,
,
(Metzger and Hurlburt, 2001) or affect the southeast coast of the Arabian
Peninsula after propagating westward across the Arabian Sea. Global
prediction capabilities are also important to operational forecasters in areas