Environmental Information for Naval Warfare (2003) / Chapter Skim
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6. Moving Ahead
6. Moving Ahead
Pages 124-137
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From page 124... ...
The team leader checks with the METOC officer and ascertains that the wave heights are averaging 3 feet and the wind is from the south124
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From page 125... ...
Having second thoughts, the METOC officer consults his records and confers with his staff) A senior petty officer is able to search online through a broadband communications link andfinds cruise reports from several battle groups that had previously operated in the area.
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From page 126... ...
to initiate a program to develop "smart" Internet search programs that can automatically and rapidly search millions of websites, identify resident databases, import and reformat the data, and make it available for METOC use. The primary argument used in the report was based on a statistically rigorous analysis of three years' worth of Internet relay chat (IRC chat)
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From page 127... ...
Naval Forces by producing high-quality tailored environmental information products (see Chapters 2 and 3 for greater detail)
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From page 128... ...
As discussed in Chapter 3, the spatial and temporal scales of various environmental processes may have a profound effect on efforts to predict future environmental states. Areas where inadequate predictive skill is of concern require greater numbers and more recent observations, either to support data analysis for prediction or to supplant predictions altogether.
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From page 129... ...
With this information in hand, efforts to weigh the benefit of additional information against the cost of acquiring it could be undertaken. Prioritizing data aquisition should follow a rather simple adaptive management process similar to this: 1.
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From page 130... ...
Much work, however, remains to be accomplished if forecasting is to achieve the accuracy and reliability needed at the temporal and spatial scales relevant to many naval operations, especially those taking place in coastal areas. It will not be possible to obtain, manage, and disseminate environmental information at all scales of interest for all areas of possible naval activities in the foreseeable future.
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From page 131... ...
. Guidance for identifying broadly needed and significant information across multiple warfare areas should be derived from an understanding of the benefit of additional information for reducing uncertainty versus the cost of improving the content and reliability of environmental information, whether through additional observations, improved understanding of the underlying physical processes, or more powerful forecasting tools that take advantage of both (see Chapter 4 for fuller discussion)
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From page 132... ...
Such efforts should include expanded efforts to remove unneeded or particularly sensitive nonenvironmental content; thus, reducing security risk while making the environmentally relevant information or data acquired during intelligencegathering, surveillance, and reconnaissance efforts more accessible to the METOC community. At the same time, the METOC community's ability to securely handle sensitive georeferenced material must be expanded.
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From page 133... ...
The Oceanographer of the Navy should ensure that CNMOC, FNMOC, and NAVOCEANO jointly develop a strategic plan for data acquisition over the next 10 to 20 years that prioritizes geographic regions of focus, incorporates an understanding of the limits of environmental information currently available to the METOC community, and evaluates such technologies as distributed databases, advanced information data-mining techniques, and intelligent agent technology. In addition to geopolitical considerations (which may be fairly fluid on decadal timescales)
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From page 134... ...
Navy continue to drive the need for environmental information in coastal areas where access is frequently denied. Efforts to improve secured, low-profile communications, to alleviate the risk to troops and Marines in coastal areas from chemical and biological agents (either from the tactical deployment of weapons of mass destruction by enemy forces or the destruction of such weapons by friendly forces)
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From page 135... ...
A review of various DOD and Department of the Navy guidance documents, however, does suggest that, in order to keep pace with changes now being undertaken by the operational Navy and Marine Corps, the METOC com~Use of the term "business model" may initially seem inappropriate to some readers in a report about supporting warfighters. This report, like other reports that discuss business models, uses the term "business model" to describe the mechanisms and underlying philosophies that characterize a serious and organized endeavor.
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From page 136... ...
In the presence of perfect battlespace awareness, perfect tactical decisions are theoretically possible.2 Perfect environmental information, however, is 20bviously there are several barriers to making perfect tactical decisions. In situations where environmental conditions play a role, imperfect understanding or inaccurate information can contribute to poor tactical decisions.
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From page 137... ...
Furthermore, research priorities should incorporate an understanding of the relative impact uncertainty has on various naval operations, so that research priorities map to areas where the cost of uncertainty is the greatest. To more fully capture the benefits of improved measures of environmental uncertainty and the cost of that uncertainty, operational commanders need to more fully understand the accuracy of environmental information provided them.
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