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2. The Value of Environmental Information
Pages 34-52

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From page 34... ... Since World War II, the operational area of U.S. Naval Forces has expanded globally to include all of the earth's marine environments (with increasing emphasis on the littoral region (i.e., the zone from 200 nautical miles offshore to the amphibious objective area) Read the entire page →
From page 35... ... , and Global Geospatial Information and Services (GGI&S) critical to operations conducted by U.S Naval Forces and, as needed, any joint or coalition actions that may be involved in (see Box 2-1~. Read the entire page →
From page 36... ... . In meeting the demands of naval mission areas, the naval METOC community provides operational support resources to fleet commanders and their subordinate commands. Read the entire page →
From page 37... ... These synoptic data are assimilated at the two computational centers and used as input to large-scale numerical models, which are run on a routine daily schedule. NAVOCEANO operates a fleet of oceanographic survey ships to collect information from the seafloor, ocean surface, and water column. Read the entire page →
From page 38... ... 9 Surf zone width 4 aNo. column refers to number of naval mission areas in which parameter was listed as having an influence on planning/execution of the mission. Read the entire page →
From page 39... ... Navy, U.S. Air Force, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Air Force, and the Royal Singapore Navy (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Read the entire page →
From page 40... ... These can be collected by either METOC personnel or, more commonly, the asset commander. For example, a deployed submarine may collect in situ information on the water column that can be used to improve a local model output if it were fed back to the METOC centers. Read the entire page →
From page 41... ... Forecasting Direct forecasting support to staffs, ships, and units afloat and onshore is provided by officers and enlisted METOC personnel assigned to these activities. Permanently embarked METOC personnel and deployable assets (Mobile Environmental Teams) Read the entire page →
From page 42... ... The asset commander requests a product and receives it. Furthermore, there is presently no provision for customer interaction and feedback during the numerical process or to benchmark current performance of model output forecast products and tactical decision aids or other enhanced warfighting products. Read the entire page →
From page 43... ... Research supported by the Navy intended to directly benefit "safe operating forces" traditionally focuses on improving the range and accuracy of synoptic and mesoscale forecasts. Research for "enhanced warfighting capabilities" is more diverse than for forecasting services and can include sensor array options, physical understanding of the environment, and distributed systems architectures, as well as model improvements. Read the entire page →
From page 44... ... and Special Annotated Imagery and model output from specialized tactical decision aids such as acoustic propagation prediction, ocean front and eddy thermal analysis of the ocean surface, or A U.S. Navy SEAL provides cover for his teammates while advancing on a suspected location of al Qaeda and Taliban forces. Read the entire page →
From page 45... ... The information flow for preparing enhanced warfighting products is shown in Figure 2-2. As with the METOC synoptic and mesoscale forecasting products described earlier, warfighting support products are delivered through a traditional stovepipe process. Read the entire page →
From page 46... ... Thus, uncertainty regarding the state of the environment remains a critical limitation to enhanced warfighting capabilities. There is an important and growing need in the METOC community to develop meaningful assessment and evaluation metrics to characterize uncertainty in environmental information and to determine the impact of that uncertainty on naval operations. Read the entire page →
From page 47... ... THE VALUE OF ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION TABLE 2-3 Relevance of Environmental Parameters to Naval Warfare Areasa 47 AMW/ ASW/ MIW/ STRAT/ Environmental Parameter NSW USW MCM WMD STRIKE MULTI Aerosols, haze, smoke X X X X X X Air turbulence X X X X X X Anchorages X X X X X Astronomical time X X X X X Barometric pressure X X X X Beach slope X X X X X Beach trafficability X X X X X Bioluminescence X X X X X Blowing sand X X X X X X Bottom gradient X X X X X Bottom loss X X X X X Bottom roughness X X X X X Breaker direction X X X X X Breaker height X X X X X Breaker interval X X X X X Breaker type X X X X X Ceilinglayers X X X X X X Cloud cover, type, etc. X X X X X X Clutter density X X X X X Convergence zone X X X X X Currents (bottom) Read the entire page →
From page 48... ... aAMW = Amphibious Warfare; NSW = Naval Special Warfare; ASW = Antisubmarine Warfare; USW = Under Sea Warfare; MIW = Mine Warfare; MCM = Mine Counter Measures; STRAT = Strategic Defense; WMD = Weapons of Mass Destruction; STRIKE = Naval Strike Warfare; MULTI = Multi-Mission Scenarios. Shaded = important parameter; Not shaded = unimportant parameter. Read the entire page →
From page 49... ... The final investment strategy, then, is that which provides the optimum payback within the level of risk that is acceptable to the business.2 Application of Business Principles to Naval METOC Operations Development of an objective basis for investment in METOC by the Department of the Navy requires application of the same business principles and logic (e.g., cost-benefit or risk posture analysis) to the METOC problem.3 This, in turn, requires development of an appropriate value system for naval activities and the impact of METOC on those activities. Read the entire page →
From page 50... ... The application of business principles to military operations is not straightforward. How should a value be placed on freedom, peace, or open commerce? Read the entire page →
From page 51... ... It has been estimated that 75 percent of naval special warfare missions are severely degraded due to METOC problems (LCDR Bruce Morris, personal communication) Read the entire page →
From page 52... ... Thus, the optimum investment strategy is that which provides the largest reduction in the cost of uncertainty for the smallest investment cost. An important consequence of this hypothesis is the need for the naval METOC community to embrace the concept of uncertainty and uncertainty reduction as fundamental to METOC products. Read the entire page →

From page 34...

... Since World War II, the operational area of U.S. Naval Forces has expanded globally to include all of the earth's marine environments (with increasing emphasis on the littoral region (i.e., the zone from 200 nautical miles offshore to the amphibious objective area)

2. The Value of Environmental Information Pages 34-52

2. The Value of Environmental Information
Pages 34-52