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Produced by the NASA Center for Aerospace Information (CASI)
,PL PuDIiC,ho n 84-19

ocean Services User

Needs Assessment

Volume I: Survey Results, Conclusions & Recommendations

Pr e pa r ed by Approved by

Donald R Montgomery James King

P r oject Manager Manager

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Space Science & Applications Program

Randall J. Patton

Dynamics Tecnno ogy. Inc

Samual W McCandless

User Systems, Inc.

April 5, 1984

Prepared for

National Oceanic ant

Atmospheric National Ocean Service

through an Agreement wish

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

by

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

California Institute of Technoiogy

Pasadena. California

4
(bASA-CR-174104) OCEAN SEI VICl;S USEh NEEL3

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The assessment described In this publication was carried out by the Jet

Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, and was sponsored

by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean

Service, through an agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration.

Reference herein to any specific commercial product, pror.ess, or service by trade

name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its

endorsement by the United States Government or the Jet Propulsion

Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.

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Abstract

This report is designed to aid decision makers and planners in

finding affordable improvements to the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAH) system. The report consists of

an accurate interpretation of environmental information needs of

marine urg ers, derived from a result of a direct—contact survey of

eight important sectors of the marine user community. Judgments

about the value of current or future systems designed to serve

marine users should take into account the opinions of these eight

user communities.

This report is part of a two volume set. Volume I presents the

findings of the survey and results and recommendations. The

findings consist of specific and quantized measurement and

derived product needs for each sector as well as comparisons of

these needs with current and planned NOAA data and services.

Volume II consists of supportive and reference material collected

during the study: the direct contact interviews with industry

members, analyses of current NOAA data gathering and derived

product capabilities, evaluations of new and emerging domestic

and foreign satellite data gathering capabilities, and a special

commercial fishing survey conducted by the Jet Propulsion

Laboratory (JPL).

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CONTENTS

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1.0 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1

1.1 Volume I Readers Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1

1.2 Study Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

1.3 The Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5

1.4 The Ocean Service Center Program . . . . . . . 1-6

2.0 Conclusions and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . 2-1

2.1 Conclusions and Recommendations by User

Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

2.2 Updating and Utilization of User Needs

Assessments in the NOAA System . . . . . . . . 2-10

3.0 The Assessment Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1

3.1 Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1

3.2 Direct Contact Approach . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1

4.0 Ocean Data Users — Needs and Applications . . . . . 4-1

4.1 The Off—Shore Oil and Gas Industries . . . . . 4-1

4.1.1 Survey Results .. . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1

4.1.2 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8

4.2 Marine Transporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-11

4.2.1 Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . 4-11

4.2.2 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-17

4.3 Ocean Mining Industries.. . . . . . . . . . . 4-19

4.3.1 Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-19

4.3.2 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-21

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4.4 Commercial Fishing Industries . . . . . . . . 4-23

4.4.1 Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-23

4.4.2 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-27

4.5 Marine Construction/Off-Shore Support

Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-29

4.5.1 Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-29

4.5.2 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-32

4.6 Private Forecasting and Value-Added

Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-33

4.6.1 Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-33

4.6.2 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-37

4.7 Sea Grant and Academic Institutions . . . . . 4-39

4.7.1 Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-39 " it

4.7.2 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-42

4.8 The Climate Community . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-43

4.8.1 Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-43

4.8.2 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-49 +

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4.9 Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-51 ?

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5.0 Correlation of User Needs with Current NOAA {

Products and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1 1

6.0 Perspectives of Value-Added Industries on NOAA's

Products and Marine Services . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1

6.1 The Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2

6.2 Resolution of Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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6.3 Conclusions and Recommendations . . . . . . . 6-12
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7.0 Applications Demonstrations (Pilot Experiments)

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7.1 Experimental Definition . . . . . . . . . . .

7.2 The Use of Satellite Passive Microwave

Radiometry in Operational Sea Ice

Reconnaissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

j 7.3 The Collection of Environmental

Observations From Off-Shore Platforms by

Satellite Methods

7.4 The Use of Radio-Station WWD as a Pilot

NOAA Facility for the Collection and

Distribution of Environmental Data for

Marine Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11 7.5 The Near-Real Time Processing And

Distributions of Synthe.tic Aperture Radar

1

Sea Ice Observations From the ERS-1

Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7.6 Continuation of the Processing And

I Distribution of Data from the Nimbus-7

Coastal Zone Color Scanner for Commercial

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Fishing Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Figures

I Assessment Process . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 Offshore Oil and Gas Industry Activity . . .

3 Value-Added Industry View of NOAA and

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the Marine Community . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tables

1 NOAA-NOS User Needs Assessment

User Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 Composite Data Requirements . . . . . . . . .

3 User Needs - Offshore Oil and Gas . . . . . .

4 User Needs - Marine Transportation . . . . .

F 'l 5 User Needs - Ocean Mining . . . . . . . . . .

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6 User Needs - Fisheries . . . . . . . . . . .

7-1

7-1

7-4

7-6

7-7

7-9

7-9

3-11

4-10

6-3

3-3

4-2

4-4

4-12

4-20

4-24

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7 Marine Weather & Environmental Needs

of the U.S. West Coast Commercial Fishing

Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-25

8 User Needs - Marine Construction/Offshore

Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-30

9 User Needs - Private Forecasting & Value

Added Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-34

10 User Needs - Sea Grant & Academic

Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-40 .j

11 User Needs - The Climate Community . . . . . 4-44

12 Ocean Sensors and Observables . . . . . . . . 4-53 fr

13 Current System Capabilities (GOES, NOAA,

DMSP, LANDSAT) . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-54

14 System Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-55

15 NROSS Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-56

16 Satellite Systems of Interest to Oceanic

and Polar Users - Foreign . . . . . . . . . . 4-57

17 NOAA Service Capability . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3

18 NOAA Product Matchup-Offshore Oil and

Gas Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-4

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19 NOAA Product Matchup-Marine Transportaion

Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5 J

20 NOAA Product Matchup-Deep Ocean Mining r

Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6

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21 NOAA Product Matchup-Commercial Fishing

Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7

22 NOAA Product Matchup-Offshore Support and

Construction Industries . . . . . . . . . . . 5-8 i

23 NOAA Product Matchup-Private Forecasting and

Value Added Industries . . . . . . . . . . . 5-9

24 NOAA Product Matchup-Sea Grant and Academic

Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-10

25 NOAA Product Matchup-The Climate Community.

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26 NOAA Service Capabilities Potential Value

to All Marine User Components . . . . . . . . 5-14

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27 Most Valuable NOAA Service Capabilities for

Marine User Community Components . . . . . . 5-15

I 28 Specific Recommendations to Improve NOAA

Marine User Service Capabilities . . . . . . 5-16

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29 - Private Sector Marine Forecast Services . . . 6-10

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GLOSSARY

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

AEIDC ARCTIC ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION DATA CENTER

AFTN FAA WEATHER DATA

AOGA ALASKA OIL AND GAS ASSOCIATION

AOSC AUXILIARY OCEAN SERVICE CENTERS

CCT COMPUTER COMPATIBLE TAPE

!";:'S DEFENSE METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE SYSTEM

EEZ EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE

FAA FEDERAL AVIATION ASSOCIATION

FAX COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES (ALSO TWX, TELEX, UNIFAX)

FNOC FLEET NUMERICAL OCEANOGRAPHIC CENTER

GTS GLOBAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

GWSI GLOBAL WEATHER SERVICE, INC.

HF HIGH FREQUENCY

HN HYDRODYNAMIC - NUMERICAL

INMARSAT INTERNATIONAL MARINE COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE

IR INFRARED

JPL JET PROPULSION LABORATORY

MAREP MARITIME REPORTING PROJECT

MARISAT MARINE COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE

MLD MIXED LAYER DEPTH

NMC NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL CENTER

NOAA NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ASSOCIATION

NOBC NATIONAL OCEAN BUOY CENTER

NODC NATIONAL OCEAN DATA CENTER

NODDS NAVY/NOAA OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

NOS NATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE

NROSC NORTHWEST REGIONAL OCEAN SERVICE CENTER

NROSS NAVY REMOTE OCEAN SENSING SYSTEM

NW NOAA WEATHER RADIO

NWS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

OCM OCEAN MINING INDUSTRIES

OIP OCEAN INDUSTRY PROGRAMS

OMC OCEAN MINERALS COMPANY

Viii I 1
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OMs

ORI

OSC

OTEC

PMEL

ROSC

SAR

SEASAT

SEAS

SSB

SSMI

SST

TOPEX

USL

UW S

WM 0

OCEANOGRAPHY AND MARINE SERVICES

OCEANROUTES, INC.

OCEAN SERVICE CENTERS

OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION

PACIFIC MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL LABORATORY

REGIONAL OCEAN SERVICE CENTERS

SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR

OCEAN REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE (NASA)

SHIPBOARD ENVIRONMENTAL ACQUISITION SYSTEM

SINGLE SIDE BAND

SATELLITE SURFACE MICROWAVE IMAGER

SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE

OCEAN TOPOGRAPHIC EXPERIMENT SATELLITE SYSTEM (NASA)

UNITED STATES LINES

UNIVERSAL WEATHER SERVICE

WORLD METEROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

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I!. 1.0 Introduction

Sections 1.0 and 2.0 of this document form an executive summary

of the findings of the study, provide information about the basic

structure of the report, contain an overview of the marine user

sectors considered, and sets forth conclusions and

recommendations. The remaining sections contain more detailed

descriptions that support these concise summaries. The following

paragraphs outlina the entire report and indicate where

particular information can be found.

1.1 Volume _I Readers Guide

The observations and conclusions presented in this report are not

the opinions of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), but are the

strongly held opinions of working marine users representing the

following interests:

- OFF-SHORE OIL AND GAS

- MARINE TRANSPOPTATION

- DEEP OCEAN MINING

- COMMERCIAL FISHING

- OFF-SHORE SUPPORT AND CONSTRUCTION

- PRIVATE FORECASTING AND VALUE-ADDED INDUSTRIES

- SEA GRANT AND ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS

- THE CLIMATE COMMUNITY

These users answered questions about the value and timeliness of

data products, identified products that are not very useful and,

most importantly, provided insight about the benefit of the Ocean

Service Center concept based on the early implementation of the

Seattle center. The context of these results are lists of marine

measurements and derivative products graeA d an d pr or i iti d b ze y

each user community. This information, useful in its own right,

provides a foundation for modifying existing or creating new data

sources, information processing systems, and dissemination paths.
Since the foundation of the document rests on comprehensive

interviews with a large number of companies and individuals

representing the important sectors of the user community, the

document is organized in line with the assessment process and

each of the marine user sectors.

The purpose of Section 1.0 is to describe the logical structure

of the report, how the report was commissioned, the marine user

community interviewed during the assessment, and the Ocean

Service Center concept being evaluated.

Section 2.0 follows these introductory remarks with conclusions

and recommendations. This summary presents the distilled

findings of the report and provides suggestions as to how the

NOAA can improve the value and usefulness of the information

collected and distributed to the marine user.

Section 3.0 describes the assessment process. Individuals and

ort,mpanies interviewed are identified, the questionnaire and

techniques used during the survey are discussed, and the scope

and validity of the collected information is evaluated. The

results presented in the succeeding sections are based on the

foundation provided by these assessments. i

Section 4.0 presents the data needs for each of the marine user j

sectors. The intent of this section is to be as quantitative as

possible in terms of measurements, derived products, data formats

and delivery schedules.

Section 5.0 matches the user needs described in Section 4.0 with

existing or planned near-term National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAH) products. The result is a listing of high )

value products, products not used or of limited utility, products

of low value in their present form that could be improved, and

deficiencies in the current system in the areas of data input,

processing, and delivery.

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Section 6.0 continues this development of data utility by paying

special attention to the Value-Added industry and considers the

question of encroachment by the Ocean Service Center in this

area. Interviews with Value-Added industry leiJers forms the

basis for the content and conclusions presented.

The most effective test of whether an idea works or not is to try

it out. Pilot experiments performed by and with marine industry

users usually cost less than many studies and draw firmer

conclusions. The danger that exists with pilot experiments is

that they will become institutionalized and become a drain on

funds. Section 7.0 weighs the pilot experiment approach by

looking at past efforts. This section also evaluates the

currently unsatisfied needs expressed by users in Section 4.0 and

draws some conclusions about how pilot experiments could be used

to evaluate benefit and worth on a cost effective trial basis.

The structure outlined above provides a readable and useful

handbook of marine user needs, how they can best be satisfied,

and whether it is worth the effort in terms of econonic or social

gain.

1.2 Study Background

In recognition of a gap in understanding the needs for NOAA's

s; I, ocean services and products, and in support of the emerging Ocean

1V

Service Center concept, NOAA authorized and funded this user

needs assessment in August 1983. The JPL was selected to conduct

the assessment and as an operating element of the California

Institute of Technology, brings an independent, non-Government

character to the study and evaluation process through its

s, development

operational

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efforts in satellite oceanography and the conduct of

 demonstrations using satellite observations in

ocean applications. JPL has developed a unique

with the private sector. This relationship has

 a ten-year period and has permitted the Laboratory

commercial

relationship

evolved over
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staff an opportunity to establish a broad set of working

relationships with industry and gain a thorough understanding of

the ocean industry needs and requirements for ocean observations,

products, and services.

i

The user needs assessment was initially established as a ten

month study, to be concluded in early June 1984. Late in 1984, 4

an evaluation committee was formed for the prototype Regional

Ocean Service Center in Seattle and it then became desirable to

complete the user needs assessment earlier to make it available

to the Committee for their review and consideration.

Accordingly, NOAA-National Ocean Services (NOS) authorized an 1

accelerated effort in order to complete the assessment report in

{

early April 1984.

A preliminary assessment report, based on the knowledge of user

needs by the study staff, was completed and forwarded to NOAA-NOS

in October 1983. Although this report did not reflect an update

of user needs and requirements through the

interview/ questionnaire process, it did serve as one resource in

guiding the formulation policies of the prototype Regional Ocean

Service Center in Seattle.

The staff of JPL was ably supported in the performance of this

assessment by Dynamics Technology, Inc., of Torrance, California,

and User Systems, Inc., of Annandale, Virginia. The staff of the

External Affairs Office at the Seattle Regional Ocean Service

Center, as a part of their outreach program, visited a selected

set of users on the U.S. West Coast during the assessment period.

In the interest of time and efficiency, the reports from these

visits were used to both augment and update the needs defined by

these users as established during additional contacts by JPL.

The National Weather Service office in Anchorage, Alaska, and the

integral Ocean Service Unit have taken a lead role in developing

a unique and strong marine weather capability in the Alaska

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region. The personnel in the Ocean Service Unit office have done

pioneering work in determining the needs of the Alaska users and

have implemented an ocean and ice program responsive to these

needs. This needs assessment has taken advantage of the work

performed by the NWS staff and the user needs determined by the

Alaska office have been factored into this report.

1.3 The Assessment

The assessment was conducted by means of comprehensive interviews

conducted with companies representing major sectors of the user

community. Interviews were facilitated with a questionnaire

which guided the interview process. The results of these

interviews form the substance of thi's report.

The objectives of this user needs assessment were:

1. To identify the needs and requirements of private sector

users for NOAA's marine weather and oceanographic products

and services.

2. To identify the needs and requirements of academic users and

the climate community for NOAA's marine: weather and

oceanographic data and services.

3. To compare all user needs to existing NOAA products and

services to identify voids, unnecessary products, good

match-ups, etc.

4. To emphasize the user community serviced by the

Seattle-Regional Ocean Service Center.

5. To present the views of the private sector concerning NOAA

and its role in serving the needs of the marine

community versus the role of Value-Added industry in serving

this same community.

The material in this report can serve as a guide to NOAA-NOS in

the formulation of its policies toward the private sector users,

and should influence the selection and generation of products
l

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for, and the delivery of services to, the marine community.

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1.4 The Ocean Service_ Center_ Program

In an effort to focus and improve its marine and oceanographic j

services, NOAA has recently reorganized to form the National i

Ocean Service (NOS). This reorganization consolidates the marine

weather and oceanographic product services.

To improve the NOAA/user relationship, and to further provide a

focal point for NOAA I s marine services, NOS established the .i

concept of Ocean Service Centers. The Ocean Service Centers are

a major division in the office of Oceanography and Marine

Services (OMS). A prototype center is operational in Seattle,

Washington.

The Concept

NOAA has initiated Regional Ocean Service Centers in an effort to

realign, focus, and improve NOAA t s service to the ocean

community. The "one stop" concept was developed to enhance the

quality, coordination, and del iverability of NOAA products and

services to the marine community. The present plan calls for 4!

each center to improve the existing service base within a region,

and to integrate and unify products for an area of responsibility

covering tree U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). An additional

emphasis in the design of the Centers is to provide guidance f

products for the Value-Added industries. The centers are

designed to work closely with Government and private industry i

groups to ensure that these relationships are cooperative and

non-competitive.

This new emphasis to supply data products and services to the

ocean ' user community has been greeted by the community with mixed # I

feelings. The user community, having been disappointed in the

past, is somewhat wary of the new initiative and views the

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longevity of the Center concept with some skepticism.

Services

As currently structured by NOAA, an Ocean Science Center will

provide the following services:

- Marine atmospheric and oceanographic analyses, predictions

and warnings.

- Nautical charting, tide and current predictions.

- Archived data (meteorological, oceanographic, and

seismic).

- Marine advisory services, education, training, and

technology transfer.

- Satellite imagery.

- Oil and hazardous materials spill information.

- Sea Surface Temperature (SST) analyses.

- Wave/wind forecasts.

- Surf/beach erosion data.

- Water quality data.

- Living resources data.

Special services will include:

- Storm surge information.

- Fog information.

- Ocean mixed layer depths.

- Bottom temperatures on the continental shelf.

- Ice and ice movement information.

- Harbor bar forecasts.

The program will provide basic ocean information on living

resources (including marine fisheries) and environmental quality,

scientific research, environmental analyses, forecasts and

warnings. The centers will concentrate on the collection,

analysis and dissemination of basic marine environmental data

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essential to the protection or safety of life and property_ The

private sector will be encouraged by the centers to respond to

specific users needs and to prepare °tailored t ' products from the

basic NOAA information.

A

The present NOAA Ocean Service Center Program is designed to

function through a three-tiered framework. The Ocean Service r

Headquarters will have oversight responsibility of the structure

consisting of: (1) National Centers, (2) Regional Ocean Service

Centers (ROSC), and (3) Auxiliary Ocean Service Centers (AOSC).

The National Centers will supply data and products on a large

scale. The ROSCs will prepare relevant regional data such as i

regional forecasts, advisories and warnings of marine

environmental conditions, and carry out a liaison function with .

industry and other Government agencies. The AOSCs will be

located in major maritime port communities where they can draw

upon the information supplied by the ROSCs and distribute the

NOAA products and services locally.

A unique aspect of the centers is that, in addition to supplying

standard regional marine forecast products, they will also

provide operational information covering NOAA's entire marine

product spectrum. The centers are intended to become primary

points of contact for all ocean data users.

r^

The Northwest Regional Ocean Service Center (NROSC) located in

Seattle, Washington, has been established as a prototype for the

OSC program and began operations on October 27, 1983. The

Northwest Center will serve the marine community along the U.S.

west coast from the Canadian/U.S, border on the north to the

Oregon/ California border on the south. Both existing and future

NOAA products and services will be coordinated by the center to

structure them to meet the needs of the general ocean users in

the region. f

The Seattle prototype center will serve as a. pathfinder for

1-3
future centers. Additional regional centers will depend upon the

success of the Seattle Center, the success as perceived by both

the user community and a Department of Commerce evaluation

committee. The future of the Ocean Service Center concept will

( depend upon the ability of the prototype center(s) to build a

user constituency and a strong user awareness of the marine

!f products and services available from NOAA through the centers.

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2.0 Conclusions and Recommendations

The most important conclusion is that NOAA regional centers must

act as an ombudsman for the regional marine users. This means

that they will act-for user interests as opposed to Government

interests. This is an important distinction in any outreach

activity because it sets the tone for all of the actions that

follow and will certainly determine the success of user oriented

programs. To accomplish marine user data and data use

improvements will involve a major NOAA outreach effort geared to

identifying users, developing a user awareness about NOAA's

capabilities and services, and constructing a product suite and

service proficiency which is responsive to the needs of the user

community. Sections 4.0 and 5.0 are specific and quantitative

about what these services should be. The users must shape the

Ocean Service Centers (OSC) concept for it to be successful and

must directly participate in the evolution of the prototype

center(s) and develop an advocacy for the NOAA ocean program.

Special attention should be given to the Value-Added industry,

many elements of which view the OSC concept with serious concern.

Section 6.0 is specially devoted to the concerns of the

Value-Added industries. NOAA policies regarding the role of NOAA

versus the private sector in terms of marine products and

services need to be formulated in concert with industry leaders

and, once established, be honored by the centers on a long-term

basis. Consistent policies and data continuity are key to

establishing a successful working relationship with the marine

industries.

Study of many listings of NOAA products and services revealed

that some-important and very valuable functions performed by NOAA

were not listed at all. An outreach program, led by the service C` center concept, should,make sure that all users are made aware of

products and services and how to acquire them.

L

2-1

E

1
Section 4. 0, Ocean Data Users - Needs and Applications, and

Section 5 . 0, Correlation of User Needs with Current NOAA Products

and Services contain the quantitative assessments to be used in

order to make specific changes in current or projected systems.

These two sections define needs and cross - compare capabilities.

Tables 26, 27, and 28 summarize needs and capabilities by marine

user sectors and rank capabilities in terms of a "total value"

score based on the utility of the product or service. This

estimate was based on the response to a direct contact survey and

should be used by NOAA planners to revise and improve current and

future capabilities.

The Ocean Service Center ' s hopes are composed of their

representation of the interest of the marine users, not a

provider of current NOAA proceedures and policies. Acting

in this capacity, the center should:

1. Establish a working level clearinghouse type of

communication, with the user groups endemic to the region,

where problems get solved.

2. Improve data accessability to Value - Added and end-item users

alike.

3. Advise NOAA policy and program planners about new data

collection, processing, and distribution needs.

2.1 Conclusions and Recommendations by User Sector

Each of the marine user sectors have unique operating

personalities and have specific needs and opinions about how

those needs can best be served by Government/industry cooperative

actions.

011 and Gas

General - Oil and gas commerce in the marine environment is

characterized by a general dependence on Value - Added and support

i

2-2 ^I D
USUP I ,

1.

industries for information and services. Operators use the most

modern techniques and equipment' to develop systems which are as

insensitive as possible to weather. This trend is associated

with the fact that the community operates in many hostile

environmental regions, including the Arctic, where the threat of

ice is added to bad weather and sea conditions. Operations costs

have increased recently and exploration plans are being scaled

back and placed on a longer time base.

1

As a group, this industry is self—reliant and is wary of

Government control, intervention, and cooperative efforts.

Today!s_Improvements — Since this, industry depends on Value—Added

companies for assistance, NOAA must improve and strengthen their

relationship with the Value—Added sector. Better and faster data

base access is the key to this improvement with adherence to

clear and consistent data policies. Methods of obtaining

I

environmental observations, from cff—shore platfoms with a

cooperative data pilot program is a method of improving the

dialog between NOAA and the oil and gas industries.

Tomorrow's 

—

Changes — The most important additions to the NOAA

i —

data base would be global synoptic ocean wind measurements made

at least twice daily and large area high resolution ice maps also

Iupdated on a daily basis. Both of these measurements require

satellite observations using radar sensors. The technology for

doing this was established in the 1970s, but NOAA operational

systems or plans do not include these capabilities to date.

Marine Transportation

r

General — The marine transportation industries readily seek and

use Government assistance and services. These users are

beginning to use better communication services and technologies

on board ships and are in position to take advantage of

improvements in data products and Value—Added services. Coastal

L .

2-3

it

J^Ii1 ^I
1

operators find NOAA products quite helpful and many operators use

NOAA data directly during transit. A large number of ocean

transit users and some coastal users rely on Value-Added services

to optimize routing and improve storm avoidance.

Todaj!s_lmprovements - Since Value-Added companies provide

weather routing services to a large part of the marine

transportation industry, better data base access will also help.

Data base improvements for the Southern Hemisphere and Arctic

regions would also greatly aid these users.

Tomorrow's—Changes - Fundamental improvements in data sources

include twice daily measurements of global wind speed and

direction, and daily ice maps with sufficient resolution to aid

navigation. These measurements are feasible using satellite

borne remote sensors, but are not presently planned in the NOAA

system. Marine transportation users could also be used to

implement an automatic observation marine data collection system

using satellite relay capabilities.

Dee Ocean Mining

General - Deep ocean mining companies are appreciative of both

Government help in providing research data and development

support for their fledgling industry and are, at the same time,

leery of Government decisions in essential policy areas such as

"Law of the Sea. ItAt the present time, this industry is at a i

"wait and see" point in their bus'ness plan. It All out" mining

operations remain a future dream, but "on-station" pilot mining

I

operations have convinced the venturers that this future is worth

protecting.

The areas of highest potential for deep ocean mining are remote

and the surrounding and influencing adjacent environments in

these vast reaches of the Pacific are difficult to monitor.

ui Sparce quantities of critical weather data also make forecasting k

i

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a nearly random art in these areas. All this confronts an

operation that is perhaps the most weather sensitive off-shore

commercial enterprize now being cciducted. When the flexible

surface to ocean floor collection system is in place, the miners

are vulnerable to weather-related damage and mayor economic loss.

Today!s_I mpr ovements - Better data collection and forecasting

services aligned to the specific mining area would aid the ocean

mining industries. This would require improvements in data

collection systems in the mid-Pacific basin and would mean that

forecast information with improved grid densities be made

available. It is also vitally important that information

turn-around times be compressed.

Tomorrow's Changes - The ocean mining industries could benefit

from improved satellite data collection. An evaluation of the

detailed needs presented in Section 4.0 indicate that wind, wave,

and swell information is critical to mining operations and this

type of information is sparce and, in some cases, nearly

nonexistent in the region of interest. Microwave scatterometers,

altimeters, and synthetic aperture radars are needed on U.S.

polar-orbiting data collection platforms.

The U.S. Commercial Fishing Industries

n will continue to impact

gins and creating policy

most modern equipment and

;upport. By contrast, our

do not have the kind of

foreign competitors and,

and advantage by using

d ocean color information,

. data sources are about to

General - Foreign fishing competitio

U.S. industry, shrinking profit mar

issues. Foreign fisheries use the

techniques and also have Government

fishing industries are fragmented,

Government support provided by their

although they have gained benefit

experimental satellite temperature an

face a future where these experimenta:

disappear.

2-5
Toda I s_Improvements - The support provided to the west coast and

Alaskan fisheries should be extended to the Gulf and East coast

fisheries. Continued use of the Navy/NOAH Oceanographic Data

Distribution System (NODDS) to provide weather information,

formatted specifically for the fisheries, is important combined

with sea surface temperature and ocean color information from any

available source. NOAA should improve the quality of general

weather forecasts out to 24 hours by involving fishermen in an

efficient observation collection and reporting system. NOAA

should provide satellite-derived temperature and ocean color data

products on an experimental basis until operational systems

become available. NOAA should encourage a dialogue between

fishermen and Value-Added firm . 0 and provide marine weather and

fisheries oceanography educational programs for fishermen by an

extension outreach program.

Tomorrow's Changes - NOAA should establish a national marine

weather radio (voice and FAX) reporting and collecting system and

structure this system so that station time can be sold to

Value-Added firms. The Government should implement operational

polar-orbiting satellites with ocean color and temperature

measuring capability, the latter on an all-weather basis. A

subsidy program should he devised to encourage fishermen to

access the capabilities of the Value-Added industry for tailored

environmental products.

Off-Shore Support and_ Construction_ Industries

General - The off-shore support and construction industries are

primarily associated with off-shore oil and gas interests,

although a variety of new energy conversion and controlled

fishery businesses use services from these industries.

Operations are often sited in hostile environmental regions that

are in remote areas with respect to resupply and maintenance.

Operators rely on NOAA/marine information to schedule and conduct

activities at the site and also provide support to off-shore

2-6 I
locations. Recent activities in the Arctic have added the

i difficulties of ice encroachment to the problems confronting rig

I deployment, installation, and daily operation.

Todav!s_ImRrovements - Improving the accessibility of the

Value-Added industries to NOAA data would aid the marine support

and construction industries due to their reliance on Value-Added

services. More businesses are turning to the Arctic regions for

resource extraction and current data collection systems in these

areas are poor. NOAA could improve service in these areas by

expanding both collection and data product capabilities.

Tomorrow's_ Changes - Although egnventional systems can aid the

support industries in the Arctic and in hostile weather regions,

the real improvements will be made possible by adding airborne

and satellite microwave sensors to the NOAA data collection

system. Microwave radiometers and synthetic aperture radars,

already proven in space, are needed to make critical wive, wind,

temperature, and high-resolution surface imagery available in

( areas where poor lighting conditions or cloud cover prevail.

Private Forecasting and Value-Added Industry

General - This industry will continue to depend on NOAA and o.:her

Federal agencies to collect and distribute global environmental

observations. This industry will combine NOAA data with other

information and their own special knowledge of a particular end

item user to create customized products for the off-shore oil and

gas, marine construction, marine transportation, and other users.

The industry will vigorously seek access to all national and

international data including foreign satellite generated

products. The industry will accept an equitable user charge

arrangement for both observations and products but wil . maintain

a vigilance about NOAA I s intention to provide u cers with

specialized products. The Ocean Service Centers are 'a source of

concern to this industry. This sector of the use base is

i; 2-7 i
particularly interested in data continuity and consistent

policies relative to the NOAA/Value-Added interface.

Today's_Improvements - The most important improvement would be

better access to the NOAA data base. In this instance, the data

base are the bulk of environmental observations, analyses, and

forecast-derived products. The Value-Added industries would like

to access this data base with their computers and receive it in

formats and on time scales consistent with their' client interests

which, in many cases, is a near-real-time requirement. This

industry would like NOAA to concentrate on global environmental

observations, forecasts, and severe storm warnings and withdraw

from the generation of specialized products. This group of users

would like NOAA to establish a referal system to direct users to

Value-Added firms in response to requests.

Tomorrow's_ Changes - Because of the expansion of the off-shore

oil and gas, mining and .support industries (including marine

transportation) in hostile regions (including the Arctic), the

Value-Added industries would like NOAA to improve their data

collection capabilities in these regions. This group considers

that NOAA should protect their interests in gaining access to all

future domestic civilian and defense satellite systems and act as

an interface to foreign satellite systems as well. The `ndustry

expects that NOAA will improve the marine radio communication and

data networks on which the industry can buy time,

Sea Grant and Academic Institutions

General - The sea grant activities in ocean research are

diminishing at the present time. Marine user extension programs,

based in academia, are continuing but with reduced budgets. This

trend is regretable because many of the data collection and

process product innovations were developed by these programs.

Academic users require access to well planned and maintained

archives. It is important to involve these users in all areas of

i

2-8
civil programs, including direct interfaces with commercial

marine user sectors.

Toda y 's_ Improvements - NOAA can improve their service to the

marine industries by improving their support of academic

investigators. An outreach program at any level should introduce

the academic researchers and the commercial marine users by

,jointly involving them in regions of common interest by Pilot

programs dedicated to establishing a new or better data

application. Both of these groups would benefit by the

association and NOAA would gain considerable leverage on future

programs from the support of these groups.

Tomorrow's Changes - Universities should be encouraged to improve

their 'direct access to global data bases. The satellite data

collection facility at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography is

an example of the kind of interface that should be established in

several other locations (Woods Hole, Rhode Island, Florida,

New Orleans, Houston, San Francisco, and Seattle, etc.). More

than anything else, this would help to accelerate the process of

spinning new ideas developed by the universities into the private

{ sector.

The Climate_ Community

General - Members of this sector are engaged in global or large

regional data applications and research. Most of their daily

needs can be satisfied with easily accessed and well managed data

archives similar to the academic community.

Today I s^Improvements - The Federal Government has been collecting

and will continue to collect very large and valuable

environmental data bases. This data needs to be more accessible

j. to users. In many cases, the data is scattered in several

locations and is poorly identified and exposed, which makes it

[ rj difficult to acquire and use. Better data management on a

2-9 iJ

Y
^rr^c

national scale is the key to supporting the climate community.

Specific listings of data deficiencies in this area are provided

in Section 5.0.

Tomorrows Changes - The only way environmental data sets would

be useful in the future is if a rapid expansion of the mini and i

personal computer businesses and similar improvements in general

.1

communications access would occur. These two trends make it

possible to address a rapidly expanding data base. It is

i

possible for NOAA to take advantage of this rapidly changing and

improving capability to significantly improve data base

accessibility.

2.2 Updating and Utilization of User Needs_ Assessments in the

NOAA System

The community of private sector ocean users is comprised of

broadly-based and diverse groups with both general and

site-specific or tailored data/product requirements. Academic

users and members of the climate community also have similar data

needs. The commercial user relies on NOAA products in order to

operate in the coastal waters surrounding the Continental U.S.,

the ocean regions of Alaska, and the ocean areas encompassing

Hawaii. In order to establish environmental observation

capabilities, product generation and dissemination requirements,

and service policies and procedures which support these diverse

activities, NOAA requires an accurate compilation of both user

needs and available data sets determined by both the ocean users

and NOAA, working in close cooperation. Rather than being gust

an archive of unorganized material, this type of information

should be readily accessible and reflect changing requirements in

the user community. Such a handbook can facilitate a

conciliation of user needs with available NOAA products and

services, and can aid in identifying new product/service

requirements and eliminating those which appear underutilized.

Also, the handbook can serve as a compendium of new technologies

2-10 l
5 rm^y'4T^^

which are emerging as candidates for operational applications, as

well as a medium in which to report the results of pilot

demonstrations (see Section 7.0). A handbook which can fulfill

this function can, and should be, a natural product of this type

of user needs study. It should be designed as a reference

document for the OSCS to be updated annually.

User needs are usually defined with reference to specific types

of data products, or services which pertain directly to a users

activity, whether it be a commercial operation or research

activity. For example, drilling platforms on the North Slope

need timely sea ice movement forecasts. However, another aspect

of user needs, particularly in a highly technical and competitive

environment, is the development and implementation of innovative

and specialized data services, including Value-Added data, which

can increase productivity. Improving the state of the art in a

wide spectrum of ocean-related technology requires integrating

knowledge of data processing capabilities with a thorough i

understanding of the users' operating or research requirements.

The handbook concept will fill this need by collecting into one

document, an assessment of user needs, a description of data and

data processing services available from both NOAA and the

Value-Added industry, and evaluations of experimental techniques

and studies. Such a handbook can provide the architecture for,

and become a reference resource of, a NOAA catalog of ocean

products and services.

It should be stressed that the handbook is intended to be a

F

catalyst for effective communication between NOAA and the ocean

users, including the various sectors of ocean industry.

The exchange of information.and views inherent in the formulation

of an effective reference document can be as important to

advancing the application of technology and maintaining dialogue

as are the final results.

-11

_. -- __ r

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3.0 The _Assessment _Process

ti

3.1 Design

The assessment was constructed along three essential lines,

consistent with the objectives introduced in Section 1.0. .

— Product and Service Assessment

f— Value—Added Industry Issues

G — Pilot Demonstration Concepts

er

Using these guidelines, the assessment process was designed to

{

rr{ improve communication between NOAA and the users, and was

tailored to examine the proper role for NOAA in the marketplace.

a,

This meant that the assessment addressed the relationship of NOAA

(j and the Value—Added industry comprised of private meteorological

.

r

services, including ship routing firms. The assessment was also

't designed to address the concept of pilot demonstrations as

vehicles by which new technologies and applications ideas can be

tested and evaluated. This part of the assessment explored the

' pilot demonstration concept with the private sector users and i

?r solicited their reaction and willingness to participate in such

demonstrations.

3.2 Direct Contact Approach

r

The process used to conduct this user needs assessment draws upon

the experience of the JPL in conducting similar studies involving

't private sector users. Structured but informal direct

interviewing formed the basis for the assessment. A

questionnaire was developed to aid and guide each interview and

to serve as a supplementary record of each interview.

Emphasis was placed on understanding the unique character of each

a

user. In this fashion, the needs for ocean products and services

( could be placed within the context of the individual user.

r l_:

L 3-1

r.
3-2

c-:

Users selected for interviews were drawn from a broad set of

firms and institutions from the ocean community. While the

emphasis was placed on users in the Western United States,

including Alaska, east and gulf coast users were also included.

Table 1 provides a listing of the user contacts that support this

report.

The direct contact interview process is illustrated in Figure 1.

The informal atmosphere, coupled with the fact that an

independent organization was conducting the assessment, provided

a forum in which attitudes and perceptions regarding NOAA's

current products and services could be discussed.

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4.0 Ocean_ Data Users_=Needs and Applications

As a result of direct contact interviews, specific needs and

requirements were identified and categorized in terms of

importance and timeliness for each of the user sectors.

The coastal, oceanic, and polar region measurements of major

interest to the combined set of users were organized and

quantified as a result of the direct contact survey. Table 2

presents the coastal, oceanic and polar measurements of primary

interest to marine users. Marine users also require derived

products such as weather and wave model forecasts as well as less

time sensitive charts and climate histories. These derived

products are included in the detailed discussions that follow.

4.1 The Off-Shore Oil and Gas Industries

4.1.1 Survey Results

Table 3 contains the survey results listing the needs of this

industry group. The off-shore oil industry is a $100 billion

per year business. Today's off-shore operations use expensive

equipment with high lease rates that make it more imperative than

ever to perform at peak efficiency. The costs of off-shore

drilling activities have grown from $55/ft in 1974 to over

$305/ft in 1981. Drilling vessel daily costs may easily exceed

$50, • 000. A major factor for these high costs is the need for

equipment of special design to carry out deep water exploration

and development drilling in the world's most severe environmental

areas. The present trend is toward deeper and more hostile

environments, with programs planned in such places as Alaska, the

Beaufort Sea and off the U.S. east coast. To design and build

vessels and rigs to operate in these waters, oil companies need

basic data about the wind/wave environment where vessels, and

eventually the production platforms (with vessel resupply), will

operate. Off-shore operations are also highly weather dependent,

4-1 v
41

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which points to their need for improved weather predictions. The

column listings in Table 3 reflect the types of operations and

operations planning information that this community requires.

Synoptic or near-real-time information is required for operations

and logistics support with special attention given to dynamic

station keeping. The Arctic environment poses a special

challenge to the oil and gas industries.

Ice cover and ice movements vary greatly with the time of year

( and surface wind conditions. The percentage of ice cover in

polar regions governs much of the weather there, owing to the

large exchange of heat between air and water occurring through

open water areas, especially in narrow leads and polnyas.

Operations support shipping depends upon an accurate assessment

of ice conditions throughout the navigable waters.

Off-.shore drilling needs to know ice edge location for deploying

its support vessels during the course of drilling operations.

Presently, the east coast drilling is on a seasonal basis, so the

location of the ice edge and its projected movement is needed to

decide when the drillship can be sent to the site. In the

Beaufort Sea, the position of the multiyear ice edge and its

relation to the drilling sites is always of concern. The edge

location affects the conduct of drilling operations in that

differing distances of the edge from the site call for differing

levels of alert. Alert levels for Dome Petroleum operations in

the Beaufort Sea are based on the ' I T" time, or time to disconnect

plus a number of hours determined by the estimated arrival time

of significant ice. At each alert level, certain procedures,

such as close tactical reconnaissance or deployment of a supply

vessel, are initiated while activities at the drill site are

altered or changed in accordance with the ice status. The

declaration of an alert level is dependent upon the concentration

of ice, its speed, and the nature of the ice in terms of type and

structure (mainly ridging).

4-3
4-4

ORIGINAL PAGE IS

OF POOR QUALITY

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Arctic ice structures vary considerably. For instance, ice

islands are limited to the Beaufort Sea, although fragments have

been observed in the past in some of the channels in the Arctic

! islands. Icebergs are a feature in the eastern Arctic and

adjacent southern latitudes. Incursion of ice islands on a

drilling platform or an artificial drilling island can have

disasterous consequences economically and also pose life

threatening situations.

Icebergs affect a wider range of activities because of their

geographic origin and distribution. Present off-shore drilling

operations off Canada's east coast, notably off the Labrador

Coast and at Hibernia, must always know of the location of

icebergs. The size, movement, and proximity of the icebergs

relative to the site will decide the action to be taken. If the

iceberg is small enough and projected to come dangerously close

to the site, efforts will be initiated early to tow the iceberg

away. If the threatening iceberg is sufficiently large enough to

discourage towing efforts, the only option may be to move the

drillship off the site.

( While any one parameter in itself may be of concern to a ship or

boat operator or drillship master, more often it will be a

combination of factors that ultimately will dictate the course of

action to be taken. For example, our survey revealed that alert

level procedures for Dome Petroleum's off-shore drilling

operations require knowledge of ice concentration and velocity

along with a general description of the condition of the ice.

The declaration of an alert level is not only based on the

available ice information, but also on the considered judgment of

the master. It is in this context that the role of ice

information must be assessed. Consider the decision-making

prdcess of the master and the information sources he has at his

disposal. Ice information provided by aircraft and satellite

sensors is one source. They provide data that is remotely

[11 4-5
^r

measured, giving some inferred information on the composition and

cross - sectional properties' of the ice. While such information

may be sufficient a large portion of the time, a closer look may

be required in some instances. A supply vessel or ship-based

helicopter may be needed as a probe. The information provided by

such a probe, combined with remotely sensed data and the

considered judgment and experience of the master, will all be

given various weightings in deciding the appropriate course of

action.

Conventional ice observation suffers from a sparcity of data and

observation of ice from existing weather satellites is

complicated by the persistent cloud cover and poor lighting

I conditions found in polar and subpolar regions. Thus, active or

passive microwave sensor data is required for imaging ice cover

and very large icebergs on an all - weather basis. With the Navy

Remote Ocean Sensing System ( NROSS) or Defense Meteorological

Satellite System ( DMSS) Satellite Surface Microwave Imager

(SSMI), at an 85 GHz frequency, it is possible to image ice cover

with good resolution ( 4 km) over the entire polar caps with

swaths of , 1,000 km on an all-weather basis. A Synthetic Aperture

Radar ( SAR) is required for measurements of a few meters and this

sensor, although part of the SEASAT Program In 1978, will not l

reappear on a long duration space platform until later in the

decade when European, Canadian and Japanese systems will include

SAR sensors.

I

It is expected that in the future the Arctic Ocean will be

used more for navigational purposes, particularly as oil and

mineral sources are located there. Operations in the Arctic

depend on up-to-date information on the extent, position,

thickness, and breakup characteristics of sea ice, which requires

mapping large areas. The all - weather, day-night operational

capability of radar systems is particularly useful in this

regard, since light and weather conditions are uncertain most of

the time.

4-6 -1
i

/ s 1

v

i

1 ,

.1

i

One indication about how the oil and gas community feels about

satellite radar sensing of the 'Arctic is expressed by the Alaska

Oil and Gas Association (AOGA) which is a trade association whose

member companies account for the bulk of oil and gas exploration,

production, and transportation activities in Alaska. AOGA is a

division of the Western Oil and Gas Association.

AOGA discovered that NASA is planning to establish a receiving

station in Fairbanks, Alaska, to obtain SAR data from the

European Space Agency remote sensing satellite, ERS-1. Such data

would be processed to create images of sea ice conditions of the

off-shore Alaskan area.

The ERS-1 satellite is currently scheduled for launch in late

1987 or early 1988. Oil industry operations on the Alaska

off-shore continental shelf in the late 1980s and early 1990s

will need timely, accurate information on sea ice conditions in

the Beaufort, Bering, and Chukchi Seas, especially in lease areas

contained in the Interior Department's current five year

lease/sale schedule.

AOGA expressed support to NASA for the planned receiving station

and strongly recommended that a data processing capability be

provided to produce near-real-time images of sea ice. Such data

should be acquired and routinely archived for later analysis.

AOGA stated that it was important that data processing should be

rapid enough for forecasting use; that is, processed images

should be available to forecasters or to industrial users within

hours of data acquisition. Although NASA will site the station,

they will only produce delayed images for scientific users.

Marine users have been sent to NOAA for near-real-time images.

Until now, the off-shore industry has relied primarily on the

Value-Added industry for support when issues of environmental

concern have arisen. Taking an example of this reliance from our

survey, SOHIO is a large off-shore oil company whose various

4-•7
^k

J I

I

drilling operations require site specific forecasts. (SOHIO

built the expensive MUKLUK Island drilling platform, with funding

help from other companies, in the Beaufort Sea which appears to

have failed to produce any oil.) They receive almost all of their

forecast information through Value-Added companies and do not

depend directly on NOAA. The attitude of our contact at SOHIO is

that the very specialized and accurate weather reports and

.7

forecast information that they require could be best provided by

the private sector. SOHIO does not need or expect NOAA to

provide these highly tailored services. They were aware of the

weather FAX medium and NODDS, but were not sure exactly what NOAA

I offered in terms of data products and services.

All of the companies interviewed felt that NOAA should

concentrate on expanding its observational data base and improve

the management of it, which would include developing a larger

communications network. A universal opinion was that easier

access to relatively inexpensive but high quality data by

Value-Added companies would allow smaller, regional forecast

services to compete with the larger Value-Added companies on a

regional basis.

Most U.S. oil and gas companies are very interested in accurate

and timely ice information. If the information is not available

from the National Weather Service (NWS) (e.g., because of cloud

cover), then they must fly their own reconnaissance, which is

expensive. For this reason, they would be willing to help fund a

pilot program to disseminate timely SAR data, but only if there

was a foreseeable payoff. They would have to carefully study the

profitability of the investment first. The demand for

environmental support services, whether from NOAA or Value-Added

companies, has grown as off-shore oil moves to harsher

environments.

l

4-0

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4.1.2 Issues

Some of the key issues of concern are:

- Real-time communications

- Ocean monitoring

- Detailed wave information, (i.e., directional wave

spectra - height, period, direction)

- Weather-dependent decision assistance for off-shore oil

activities (e.g., drilling schedule, supply vessels,

helicopter shuttles for crews and supplies, oil

surveillance, etc.)

- Data analysis for input to oil spill models

- Wind and wave hindcast studies for production design

- Ocean current analysis

- Mixed layer modeling

- Ice forecast and ice movement information

Despite the worldwide recession, off-shore daily activity in 1982

was at a record high. The decade of the 80s began with a rash of

activity in the contract drilling market, and the industry was

involved in several large-scale development programs around the

world. Figure 2 illustrates the worldwide active fleet and

provides a table of-the off-shore wells drilled over the last 12

years. Mobile and platform rigs drilled almost 3,000 wells in

1981 off the coasts of more than 50 countries around the world.

At each drilling location, the need fo•r weather forecasting and

environmental data gathering has become as standard as expenses

for drilling equipment. The Ocean Industry Magazine's 1982

forecast of 3,095 wells indicates a significant upturn in this

market.

The activity in deep-water lease acreage and equipment and the

record pace of geophysical activity (which is a precursor to

drilling) are further reinforcements of the increasing demand for

support services that can be met by high technology Value-Added

industries and NOAA data products, services, and observations.

i

4-9 ^I'I

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ORIC1mm- P ' Al i q of OF POCr4

.4

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PACIFIC t

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DRILLING ACTIVITIES

ft 

1

JACK-UP DRILLING EXPLORATORY/APPRAISAL/DELINEATION WELLS... 270

DRILLINO DEVELOPMENT WELLS ........................124 j

SUBMERSIBLE

WORKOVER OPERATIONS 25

SEMI-SUBMERSIBLE REENTRY OPERATIONS ............................... 12

OTHERMODES ...................................... 12

DRILLSHIP-DRILLBAROE ENROUTE/PREPARING TO DRILL ........................ 20

OFFSHORE WELLS DRILLED I

1970-1982 c

YEAR U.S. OUTSIDE U.S. TOTAL

1970 11058 312 1,370

1971 884 280 11164

1972 993 601 1,594 y

1973 888 856 1,744

1974 830 986 1,816

1975 1,028 1,067 2,095

1976 1,028 11070 2,098

1977 1,211 1,310 21,521

1978 11236 1,520 2,756 i

1979 1,241 11444 21685

1980 1,266 1,570 21832

1981 1,075 1,770 21845

*1982 1,220 1,875 3,095

FIGURES ARE FROM SHORELINE OUT AND DO NOT INCLUDE j LAKE DRILLING

*1982 FIGURES ARE ESTIMATES

1

Figure 2. Offshore Oil and Gas Industry Activity

4-10

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4.2 Marine Transportation

4.2.1 Survey Results

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The results of the survey of marine transportation industry users

is displayed in Table 4. Marine transportation consists

primarily of cargo and tanker fleets, vessel charters, and

Government carriers such as portions of the U.S. Military Sealift

Command. There are approximately 25,000 deep —water vessels

worldwide in this category. Due to a combination of economic

factors ( notably the rising cost of fuel, the cost of replacing

and refurbishing vessels, and the insurance and damage claims

associated with groundings, collisions, and oil spills), there is

a growing demand for environmental management information and

optimization services, both at sea and in port. Furthermore,

there is a large service market targeted at the maritime

industries that maintain, service, and supply these vessels in

the worlds harbors.

Maritime transportation is obviously highly dependent on at—sea

information concerning weather and wave conditions that will be

encountered along the intended route. This is an important

distinction of marine transportation user needs as reflected in

the table. Nearly all information is needed synoptically in

near — real time. As storm conditions develop and sea conditions

change, ship masters need an update of their route planning

quickly. Studies performed by EXXON and other oil companies have

estimated that substantial cost savings are realized when vessels

are weather routed with periodic updates enroute. Satellite data

is important to this user group because it is the only source of

large area synoptic data. Weather routing of ships to impr'ove

transit time, avoid damage, and improve insurance rates is an

established business today. The weather routing business is

largely performed by Value — Added companies, which rely heavily

upon NOAA and U.S. Navy data products.

4-11
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4-12
The survey considered several marine transportation users and

asked about their current and future needs, ' This cross section

provided much variance in method but consistent use of up-to-date

information.

The San Francisco office of Chevron Shipping is mainly concerned

with the shipping of fuel and supplies back and forth from the

Gulf of Alaska to Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area and,

E1 Segundo in California. Coastal weather data is generally more

reliable than deep ocean data due to improved sampling and

observations. Chevron finds that a weather routing service,

providing detailed route specific weather and sea-state

forecasting, is not crucial for t,heir operations. The large size

of their ships and their master's familiarity with the coastal

route also influences this decision.. Chevron has used private

forecasting firms in the past, but now find the weather FAX and

voice broadcasts* adequate for their needs. The ships' masters

make their own decisions based on this weather information and

are more inclined to ride out bad conditions or duck into a

harbor (a choice unavailable to deep ocean transit shippers)

rather than significantly change their route. Chevron pointed

out that optimal routing makes more sense for trans-Pacific runs

because of the great distance and area that can be uc d to avoid

problems, whereas the shipping along the coast is more

restricted.

Given their reliance on NOAA marine weather products, Chevron

would like to see more communication with NOAA so that the

quality of the products could be improved and made even more

useful to the general coastal mariner. As an example, Chevron

mentioned that more frequent visits to the ships' officers from

the Port Meteorological Officer (a NOAA official) would help iron

out problems and keep the company in better touch with what NOAA

is doing,

,

rA similar interview with a subsidiary of Crowley Maritime

4-13
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a ,

revealed a similar opinion for the coastal region but quite a

different opinion about Arctic shipping. The company supplies

the entire Alaskan coast with fuel, prefab buildings, food, and

,just about everything else. They have about 11 barges and 8 tugs 4

and are also involved in the annual summer sea-lift which

supplies the north slope drilling operations. Operators are

particularly pleased with the support from the local NWS office

1

in Anchorage. They will occasionally call to get direct

information about weather conditions, and the tide and

bathymetric charts they use are specially compiled by the local

NWS office. All operators would like to see more ice information

(like everyone else who operates along the western and northern

Alaskan coasts),

Commercial shipping operations in Arctic regions require

knowledge of the location of ice edges. For shipping activities,

the importance of ice edge is dependent upon the capabilities of

the vessel, geographic location, and time of year. The large

tankers which will be plying U.S. and Canadian waters within the

next decade have little to fear for the safety of their vessel

through contact with the ice edge. This contrasts with smaller

cargo ships and fishing vessels that have little or no ice

capability; they may wish to know the location of the ice edge to

avoid ice entirely.

-r

Ice edge data becomes important to a large tanker in the process

of optimizing its route. for economic reasons. The influence of J

the ice edge will be to change its mode of operation from open

water to ice, depending upon ice concentration. It is probable

}}

that operating horsepower will be increased to break the ice

cover, with resulting increases in fuel consumption. The forward

speed of the ship will , likely be reduced. Therefore, it may be i

desirable to steer a course such that the tanker maintains its

route in open water for as long as it is practical to do so.

Ridges and leads ( navigable waters free of hard ice) are of

4-14
L

• M

particular interest to shipping or barge transit in the Arctic.

When transiting a consolidated ice cover, the ship crew wishes to

find the path of least resistance to speed up transit time, to

expend less fuel, and to reduce wear and tear.

Ridges are the single, greatest ice impediment to a ship's

forward progress and ridge determination requires high resolution

surveys of the ice. During the dark winter months, this can only

be accomplished by radar imaging. Why is knowledge of ridging so

important? Successful penetration of ridges is a function of the

ship's horsepower and mass as well as the ridge geometry, type,

degree of consolidation, surrounding ice thickness, and the

proximity of other ridges. Multiyear ridges are the worst case

because of the stronger ice and full consolidation of the ice

ridge keel requiring a larger mass of ice to be broken. Should a

ship become stuck in the ridge, it must back up in its own track

and ram the ridge at nearly full power. This "ramming" cycle may

have to be repeated several times before the ridge is penetrated.

Significant fuel is spent during the ramming and there is greater

potential for damage. Ti ship's net forward progress is slowed

in penetrating ridges. When the ship backs up in its track to

enable it to build up proper speed before hitting the ridge, ice

can be ingested into the propellers and/or hit the rudder.

Therefore, it is desirable to minimize the ship/ridge

interactions as much as possible. Ice islands are to be avoided

entirely by all ships.

Icebergs affect a wider range of activities because of their

geographic origin and distribution. The iceberg size will

determine what course of action is to be taken in relation to the

operation and its capability. For example, a large tanker can

withstand collisions with icebergs that would severely damage a

smaller vessel. The known presence of icebergs in an area will

undoubtedly cause a tanker master to slow down his vessel

substantially. The above-water profile of an iceberg is not

necessarily sufficient to establish whether it is of concern. In

4-15

yB •s

—4mor, 41
w

addition, the master is trained to minimize damage even though

collision may not disable or stop the ship.

In summary, like the drilling operations discussed previously,

Arctic shipping is a risk venture at present that could be

greatly improved with better environmental data about the

I

location, structure, and composition of the ice. This

4

information must be provided in a consistent routine manner with

frequent updates owing to the rapid changes in location (10s of

km in a day) and condition.

.4

Ocean transit shipping relies more heavily on weather routing

services and also must skirt the ice edge in the northern

latitudes. United States Lines (USL) is a company with a fairly

large fleet of cargo and container vessels (around 40 ships

worldwide). As with the other shipping companies, USL uses the

NWS FAX broadcast information and they also receive the Notice to

Mariners as well as any updates on various charts (tides, I

currents, etc.). Although USL receives NOAA data that they are

aware of, they also use private weather forecasting services to

augment the NOAA data, Their fleet operations also use satellite

communications by Marine Communications Satellite (MARISAT).

For their more northerly routes, USL relies on timely ice

1

information to avoid not only the ice edge, but also icebergs.

They rely heavily on Canadian reports which are based at least

partly on remote sensing aircraft reconnaissance. USL is also

involved with the global network of ship weather observations

which are supplied to the NWS. Various ships from their fleet

t

maintain a log of weather observations taken at 0, 6, 12 and 18Z,

which they hand over to NOAA. They also report any navigation

problems which are incorporated into the Notice to Mariners.

r

As is evident, USL is willing to use private companies for their

`r specific forecast needs and are more interested in the quality of

s:

the information than its cost.

v

4-16 1 i C

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1 !. i

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As ,with other shipping users, USL did not feel they were aware of

all that NOAA has to offer and would like to see this information

compiled into a catalog. If a regional OSC were established in

the northeast, USL would certainly use it.

4.2.2 Issues

Many modern vessels today are equipped with sophisticated

communication systems such as International Marine Communications

Satellite (INMARSAT) terminals and satellite navigation

equipment. Many shipping companies use the services of a weather

routing company. However, much of the independent vessel

transportation relies solely upon,NOAA marine advisories and high

seas warnings. A major problem for these shipping companies is

timely communication. Many ships using NOAA information are only

r

equipped with Single Side Band (SSB) radios which takes several

hours or days before a vessel on the high seas can receive a

storm warning. Therefore, this industry would greatly benefit

from a coordinated effort between industry groups, the

Value-Added industry,. and NOAA to improve the general marine

forecasts.

Nearly all of the shipping companies stressed that better

communication between Government and industry was necessary but,

at the same time, seemed very wary of any Governmental influence,

especially NOAA. They feel that their industry knows best what

is good for itself and that NOAA is not independently competent

to decide how to improve the operational capabilities of marine

industry, whether through delivering advanced products (e.g.,

electronic communications) or in promoting more cooperation

between industry components. They feel that NOAA's role as a

provider of the important and useful weather and marine products

used daily by-the marine industry is very important but data

types, formats, and priorities should be established by the

industry working in concert with NOAA.

L

F 4-17

-

b J
There is a critical need for improved data collection in two

regions. First, timely data about ice conditions in the Arctic

would help open up this region commercially. All users agree

that the expense of working in or designing for this region could

be significantly reduced if they had better information. Good

data would also extend operating periods. The required

information can be collected from satellites (region) or aircraft

(local) using high resolution microwave radiometers or imaging

radars.
4.3 Ocean Mining Industrie

4.3.1 SurveY_Results

Table 5 presents the results of the Ocean Mining Industry survey.

Ocean mining equipment, similar to that for off—shore oil

exploration, is costly and subject to damage or loss if an

unexpected change in weather conditions catches a mining

operation off—guard. Thus, the need for environmental forecasts

within the exclusive economic zone and in, the deep ocean is a

high priority of ocean mining operations. This need is clearly

indicated in the table. There is a need for real time data keyed

to the deep ocean mining region in the mid—basin ocean floor in

the South Pacific. • Currents, wave directional spectra, surface

wind vector field, and the reliable prediction of tropical storms

are all essential data that must be delivered in a timely manner

to permit successful dredging or collection operations.

The Ocean Mining Industry is a new industry still in its

development stage. The search for minerals in the ocean floor

has been spurred on by finds of manganese nodules and now

polymetallic sulfides. At present, only two U.S, companies and a

few international consortiums have developed techniques for

mining the ocean bottom. The U.S. companies are:

Ocean Mining Associates

Route 17

Glouster Point, VA 23062

and

Lockheed Ocean Minerals

P.O. Box 504

Sunnyvale, CA 94088

The technology needed to harvest these metals promises to expand

during the coming decades.

4-19

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Lockheed is a major partner in the Ocean Minerals Company (OMC)

which is a consortium of U.S. and Dutch companies interested in

mining the sea floor and, in particular, the recovery of

manganese nodules. Lockheed has been involved over the last 17

years in developing techniques and machinery for deep ocean

mining. Retrieving the manganese nodules from the ocean bottom

under three miles of water is a very expensive undertaking. A

$ 100M 1/10 scale system has already been developed and tested to

access the availability of mineral resources and to determine the

effect on the environment that a large scale mining operation

would have.

Because the nodule beds lie outside the coastal jurisdiction of

the maritime nations, there is a question as to who has the right

to exploit the resourses of the mid,- basin ocean floor. This

controversy is being addressed in the international Law of the

Sea Treaty. The outcome of this legal and political document

Iwill, of course, directly impact the profitability of ocean

mining.

NOAA ships have been used for basic biological research in the

nodule areas and will continue to work closely with NOAA

scientists as new areas and resources, such as the poly-metallic

sulfides found near the newly discovered deep sea vents, are

explored.

4.3.2 Issues

The current operational side of deep ocean mining consists mainly

of data collection for research and the at - sea testing of mining

equipment and systems. For these purposes, the importance of

good forecasts and near-real-time data is crucial to the

extension of mining equipments to the ocean floor from the mining

^s

ship. This extension requires nearly a day to recover and can be

easily lost if a sudden storm occurs. Mining ooerators have

Lfound the weather data provided by NOAA ( voice and FAX) to be

4-21

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helpful, but they require smaller geographic grid forecasts and

better data relay to the site. In the future, when the

profitability of deep—ocean mining is more clear—cut and large

scale efforts can become operational, Ocean Mining Industries

(OCM) would be willing to pay for private forecasting services,

realizing that a quality product is worth its price in a

competitive market. NOAA could help private industry by

contracting out research and development tasks In this area which

would put U.S. private industry in position to exploit the new

technology on an operational basis when the time is right.

r, 1
4.4 Commercial Fishing Industries

4.4.1 Survey Results

" During the course of this User Needs Assessment, the Seattle

t Regional Ocean Service Center (ROSC) commissioned an in-depth

5

needs survey focused on the U.S, west coast fishing industry,

'r

including fishermen operating in the Alaska region. Because of

its focused nature, this fisheries survey will provide detailed

s results regarding the needs of the commercial fishing industry.

By design, this section of the User Needs Assessment report is

brief, incorporating results not found in the fisheries survey.

This section is intended to augment the more detailed survey.

The reader is encouraged to review the results from both studies

r in order to gain a comprehensive view of the marine weather and

iI oceanographic data needs of the commercial fishing industry.

Table 6 represents the user needs survey results for the marine

fishing industries. Commercial fishermen, when asked to identify

the most important weather elements that can affect their

operations, will generally specify wind and sea state conditions.

In Arctic regions, freezing spray, air temperatures below 32°F.,

4 and fog are "also critical" weather factors. Fishermen desire

ocean color and temperature information to help locate the best

^. fishing areas. Various species are known to have a preference

c. for specific temperature and color regions.

^; I

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1 r In the polar regions, the ices edge is important to fishing boats i

for several reasons. Host have -little or no breaking or

resisting capability, and will want to avoid the ice as much as

possible. At the same time, it has been shown that some fish

i

-r stocks follow the ice, so knowledge of the ice edge may

determine the probable best fishing areas. ^a C:

Commercial fishing operations are always affected by marine

weather and ocean conditions. In recent years, however,

i

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fishermen are being forced to take additional weather-related

risks as fishing seasons and stock quotas are decreased. The

fishermen are under increased pressure to catch more fish in less

time. As a consequence, marine weather information will become

more important in terms' of short term, tactical planning rather

than in terms of aiding in the decision of when or where to go

fishing. Fishermen may use marine weather information to decide

when to leave the grounds to unload, but adverse weather

advisories may not force fishermen to stay in port or leave the

grounds. An increasing number of weather-related accidents may

result from this situation in the future, although vessels are

increasingly being built to withstand, and operate in, severe

weather conditions.

It has been shown by a "Fisheries Demonstration" pilot program

conducted on the U.S. west coast, using Nimbus-7 data that

fishermen appreciate and would like to receive more

fisheries-oriented data products. However, their independence

and frugality (a result of the general state of U.S. fisheries)

makes theirs a hard market to profitably exploit with this type

of service. Many Value-Added industries feel private industry

should have a chance to compete to produce these data products

(e.g., ocean color and specific weather informatior;). NOAA could

satisfy everyone's needs by subsidizing the differential between

the cost of development of these products and the level which the

fishing industry can pay.

A Marine Assessment Conference was held by the NOAA-NWS Weather

Service Forecast Office (WSFO) in Redwood City, California during

March 1983. This conference addressed the needs of the marine

users with respect to the operational demands placed on the San

Francisco Marine Unit. The requirements of the west coast

commercial fishing industry were compiled during this conference.

These requirements are set forth in the charts shown in Table 7.

These needs were developed in close association with both

individual fishermen and industry associations, including the

4-25

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Western Fishboat Owners Association.

4.4.2 issues

Key needs of the west coast fishing community can be summarized

below:

1. The NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) will serve a large number of the

fishermen operating in the coastal region. These fishermen

need a marine-only package which is broadcast around 4:30

a.m. and again around 9:30 p.m. (local time).

2. The NWR marine package should include a sensible weather

summary, severe storm warnings, sea surface temperatures, and

any buoy reports applicable to the area.

3. Fishermen with radio-facsimile capability need good surface

prognosis and analysis charts, along with a five day outlook

summarizing sensible weather, key fisheries SST, and storm

tracks.

4. Facsimile broadcasts should be made around 12:00 a.m. and

again around 8:00 p.m. (local time).

5. Fishery-aids charts, including satellite-derived SST

depictions and ocean color boundary charts, are of great

value to fishermen. Some of these charts can be included as

a part of the NWS operational charts and others (i.e., color

boundary) can be included as experimental products.

6. A good 24-hour surface prognosis is an essential ingredient

of any suite of marine weather products for all commercial

fishermen.

4-28
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4.5 Marine_ Construction/Off-Shore Support_Industry

4.5.1 Survey Results

The backbone of the off-shore industry is the group of support

companies that perform seismic surveys and move the supplies,

crews, and drilling equipment from the land-based facilities to

the off-shore rig, and the construction and installation

companies that build the equipment and rigs. To realize the

importance of environmental concerns to this industry group, all

one has to do is talk to them and let them describe the storms in

Alaska, the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, or the time they

launched a rig in 1000 ft of water and needed a "weather window"

of three days with wave heights less than 4 ft. Off-shore rigs

are not autonomous entities. A rig, .either a semi-submersible,

Jack-up or drillship, depends on contact with a supply base in

order to rotate crews and to get essential drilling equipment,

pipe, and food supplies. Time is of the essence when working

off shore. The daily operations of a rig, including all support

personnel, supply vessels, and helicopters, can reach $600,000

per day while drilling in Arctic waters. The presbures of cold,

wind, ice, fog, and barren environmental conditions are a burden

to these operations and their efficient management.

Table 8 presents the results of the survey of this user sector.

There is a strong reliance on archival data of nearly all types

to assist in site selection and engineering design of a proposed

installation. Companies also use archival information to support

required assessments of environmental impact.

Real-time temperature, current, wind, and ice data is required to

schedule and conduct operations. Since many installations are

sited in hostile environments, environmental information is

critical to the economics of a project.

The basic work in seismic exploration, conducted prior to

1

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off-shore oil lease bidding or any drilling activity, is

accomplished by the geophysical contractors. These services

consist principally of the collection, processing, and

interpretation of geophysical data. The companies have fleets of

ocean-going seismic survey vessels capable of operating at sea

for extended periods. These vessels are equipped with satellite

navigation systems and a sophisticated array of geophysical

instrumentation including seismic, gravitational, and magnetic

instruments using digital recording systems.

When operating the fleet for prolonged periods of time, and in

remote and environmentally hostile waters, the cost of operation

depends on the sea-state conditions.

Like the oil and gas industries, this industry sector has, in the

past, gone to the Value-Added industry for help. The Value-Added

industry now supplies the data, forecasts, and studies needed to

I solve the ever-increasing problems facing off-shore exploration

and development. However, the basic products, data, and

forecasts used by the Value-Added group is generated in NOAA and

Navy data collection and computer facilities.

Rowan was one of the many construction companies interviewed and

is engaged as an off-shore drilling contractor building,

deploying, and maintaining oil rigs on a worldwide basis for

various oil companies. About 10% of their business is in Alaska

where they also have a subsidiary helicopter company, ERA

Helicopters.

Rowan uses the NWS weather FAX broadcasts in their operations as

{ well as several private forecasting services (Universal Weather

Services, Willkins Weather in Houston, and Glenn's Weather

( Services in New Orleans, to name: a few). Rowan indicated that

since weather patterns generally move west to east in the upper

latitudes, more weather information from Siberia would be useful.

4-31
1110,1 Lefd

4.5.2 Issues

Oil rigs also serve as weather stations for NOAA and private

industry can, in this way, make an important contribution to the

weather data base in remote regions. Since the weather window

for their off-shore operations is short (48 hours), accurate and

timely weather data is more critical than it would be for, as an

example, a shipping company. Improved weather gathering

technology is essential. As an example, most companies suggested

the development of weather buoys and their deployment in the

Bering Sea.

Construction companies engaged in Alaskan operations would

benefit from improved ice information. Most companies expressed

a willingness to contribute to a NOAA-sponsored pilot program to

develop real-time SAR data dissemination if such a decision were

based on the results of an industry/NOAA implementation and

marketing study. As with other off-shore companies, the bottom

line is "return on investment," and if SAR data is too expensive

an investment 'compared to v ehat they are paying now for ice

information, it would not be a good buy.

These companies felt that they were not totally aware of all that

NOAA has to offer and could benefit from a better catalog of

services.

4-32

s
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4.6• Private Forecasting and Value-Added Industries

4.6.1 Survey Results

This group of users is so important to the commercial

assimilation of marine environmental data that Section 6.0 of

this report has been devoted to. issues identified with this

group.

The term "Value-Addeo Industries" in this study refers to

companies which enhance the basic NOAA products, data, and

services for specific clients and specific uses. The companies

take the basic environmental da.ta provided by Government, add

some meteorology and oceanography, and produce a technical

product to support a broad-based but highly specialized user

group. Several companies in this core of industrial users have

been active participants in previous Government user conferences

and demonstration programs such as the SEASAT Commercial

Demonstration Program.

Table 9 presents the results of the survey performed with this

user sector. Nearly every category is filled in this diagram

because many of the commercial user sectors, discussed

previously, use Value-Added support services.

The Value-Added industry needs a responsive Government in terms

of data, products, and delivery. In return, the existence of the

Value-Added industry can enhance NOAA's efforts by offering

services beyond the scope intended by Government.

A large number of Value-Added companies were interviewed.

Opinions of a representative cross-section of these companies are

included in this section.

Universal Weather Service, (UWS) based in Houston, is a private

forecast service using NWS data • to produce worldwide tailored

4-33
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forecasts for off-shore oil companies, airlines, radio, and

television stations, etc. (UWS has about 200 clients); They

receive the whole suite of NOAA FAX products as well as the

visible and infrared (IR) satellite data and radar images from

various stations from San Diego to San Juan. They distribute

their products to their clients by an extensive communications

system, including telecopies by TELEX and TWX. They also have

their own High Frequency (HF) transmitter to enhance their global

communications.

UWS is generally content with the amount and quality of data that

they receive from NOAA. The most specific improvement mentioned

was an increase in weather coverage for the mid-East and the

Indian Ocean and that it would be useful to have a better catalog

of NOAA's products and services. For example, they had heard of

and were interested in NODDS, but were not sure what sort of data

is distributed or how to get on the system.

NORTEC is a Value - Added and consulting company whose main

I

emphasis is on collecting and analyzing data for pre-drilling

environmental impact studies. One-sixth of their business

involving forecasting is focused mainly on Alaskan users; they

are also under contract to the NWS to put together flight folders

for international flights that contain copies of the standard FAX

charts. NORTEC does not subscribe to the National Meterological

i

Center (NMC) data circuit, but they do have high-speed land lines

ito receive their FAX data from the FAA data base in Kansas City.

Besides using the resources of the Anchorage NWS office, with j

which they are quite pleased, NORTEC also gets information from

the Arctic Environmental Information Data Center (AEIDC) which is

^-

part of the University of Alaska. Along with other Value-Added

companies, NORTEC believes NOAA should provide an expanded

observational data base. A specific example mentioned was a

desire for more buoy data, both in the various straits and inlets

around Alaska as well as on the open sea, at 5 oresolution.

NORTEC. would be willing to cooperate with NOAA in providing

4-35

e
observations from the drill platforms which they monitor (they

have done this in the past) As usual, for companies operating

around Alaska, they would a so like to see ice-information from

SAR images, but do not seem eager to invest their own money into

a pilot project.

Global Weather Service, Inc. (GWSI) is a Value-Added company that

provides detailed site and operation specific weather and ocean

condition information to various marine users. GWSI obtains much

of its data from NOAA by NODDS and the NMC data circuits. They

' also obtain a significant amount of i

observational data from

international sources as well, and have the computer resources to

tailor large data bases to specific user needs and to run x

sophisticated forecast models.

GWSI perceives the role of NOAA to be a provider of observational

data to whoever wants it (and, in particular, Value-Added

companies) and to provide general and safety related processed

information for the public at large. GWSI feels that more

Government-generated data is available and would be useful in

their business. In particular, the U.S. Air Force has a very

large data base (at Carswell AFB) which is only partially being

tapped by NOAA and made available to the private sector through

the NMC. More satellite data is also desired, both in the form

of images and as digital data which can be directly accessed by

GWSI's own computers. This would enable the Value-Added industry

to greatly improve the quality of . their products. NOAA is

perceived as dragging its feet in deploying marine-oriented

satellite borne instruments.

Oneanroutes, Inc. (ORI) is a Value-Added company providing, as a

major component of their business, optimal ship routing on a

global scale. ORI is also involved in site and operation

specific forecasting for oil and mining companies. They use

virtually 100% of the data available through the NMC circuits and

have a NODDS FAX graphic hook-up. Along with the usual FAX

4

4-36
Ar F-A

marine weather data (e.g., surface analysis and progs, wave

height, ice boundaries, etc.), they also receive satellite images

on their own UNIFAX machine. The observational data they receive

through NOAA sources is also supplemented by data collected from

foreign sources.- As an example, the Global Telecommunications

System (GTS) worldwide weather network, which subscribers can

access through NMC, does not contain all the Japanese weather

information, so ORI has set up their own data circuits to pick up

this additional Japanese information. Hindcasting and

climatological studies are also a major component of their

business and ORI has built up their own archived data base. They

update this with microfilmed climatoloical data from NMC.

4. G. 2 Issues

4

Value-Added companies feel that private industry, in general, is

g: quite capable of fulfilling the needs of the marine user, aside

ki from safety and general information applications. They will

r

require a clear and consistent idea of what type of data bases

NOAA. will provide and no competition from NOAA in providing

services to the marine user market. All Value-Added groups are

p;

wary of the new Ocean Services Centers. In terms of fulfilling

user needs, a paraphrase of the views of the industry might be,

" "if it is really needed, the user will be willing to pay for it."

They perceive NOAA's main role as that of a provider of

observational data and large numerical model outputs. The Ocean

E Services Centers are not seen as being necessary except perhaps

in providing an "information booth" which can give an inquiring

y.. marine user a list of private companies whose services can

d. fulfill the user's needs. This view maintains that private

(Value-Added) companies are capable of fulfilling all the

specific needs of the marine community and should be allowed to

do so within a competitive market environment.

Besides maintaining a non-competitive stance, NOAA should also

make its policies clear on the types and availability of data

4-37
C

bases it provides to the private sector. The types of services

that Value-Added companies would like to see NOAA expand and

improve include: a broadcast network on which private companies

could buy time, and more observational data from existing sources

(e.g., U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy), as well as new data

gathering efforts such as more satellite data. They also feel

that NOAA is not following through on its goal of increased

communication between it and private industry. The communication

that exists is seen as more of an intermittent effort (e.g.,

yearly user conferences) rather than the open and regular

dialogue needed to get views across effectively.

4-38

n6
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4.7 Sea Grant and Academic Institutions

The backbone of ocean research lies in the resources of our

E i universities and the Government—supported research at Sea Grant

institutions. Although the universities are not directly

involved in the commercial sector, their research feeds back into

the growing technology base used in industry. Several

universities are working with industry and Government to transfer

technology for practical application. This interdependence

creates a healthy environment for bringing together groups with

similar needs and interests in basic data and products. Since

` universities use the data supplied by NOAA and gathered through

y ocean cruises and ocean satellite programs sponsored by the

t Government, they have a vested interest in the exchange of NOAA

products.

4.7.1 Survey Results

Table 10 provides an overview of the data needs of Sea Grant and

i

academic institutions. The salierit feature of the table is the

1 absense of real—time data requirements. This user sector relies

on archival data sets to fuel studies of the marine environment

and climatology. Model design and development efforts are also a

mainstay of this community.

A review of the opinions and needs resulted from the survey

conducted interviews with a number of institutions including

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Scripps Institute of

Oceanography, and the University of Rhode Island.

J

((J A generally held opinion is that the establishment of the Ocean

"1. Service Centers is a needed mechanism for improving NOAA°s

communication capabilities. However, the institutions did bring

up the issue of the scope of the OSCs, i.e., how large and

selfcontained should they be; and whether data, such as that

=1 contained in the National Ocean Data Center, should be duplicated

4-39

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and stored at the regional centers. The consensus seemed to be

that the optimal configuration would have the OSCs be an

extension of the national office, with regional data bases

in-house.

Various academic centers have Ocean Industry Programs (OIPs).

This program, which was initiated and has been entirely funded by

private business, organizes various geophysical data bases

(mainly seismic) so that industry can access them easily. There

are programs at Woods Hole, Scripps, and Lamont-Dougherty.

Though this type of program appears to represent a service very

similar to what NOAA should be providing, the institutions feel

that it is complementry to NOAA's,data collection efforts. The

forte of OIP is synthesizing and packaging the data into a

self-contained medium. Thus, the OIP program adds value to

collected data by correlating and collating it into an easily

accessible and describable form. The OIP has even provided NOAA

with data for its National Ocean Data Center (NODC).

In the past, the OIP mostly obtained survey data. However,

because most areas have already been surveyed, a shift in data

collection is being made (by researchers) to more specific and

deterministic experimental results. Though .industry is

interested in this type of data, there is less of an .impetus for

private business to fund specific experiments. For this reason,

the OIP i3 +,rying to diversify its services to the business

community Co that they are based not ,just on data base

organization, but also the scientific consulting resources of the

institutes. The OIP thus appears to be operating much like a

Value-Added company.

All groups feel that an area where NOAA could help is in the

cataloging of various small bases which, though perhaps somewhat

R^

obscure and seemingly insignificant, nevertheless may be usefull

's to someone if they knew it existed. NOAA would not necessarily

obtain the data and reformat it to make it comply with internal

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standards, but should concentrate on publicizing its existence

and whereabouts and leave the data base in the hands of its

creator who would probably take better care of it.

The aim of the Sea Grant program is to improve the ability of

industry to operate in and exploit the marine environment,

particularly in the coastal areas.

4. 7.2 Issues

Sea Grant tries to formulate user problems into well—posed

research questions and also tries to convince typically

independent researchers to become interested in industry —related

problems. Sea Grant thus represents a mechanism for technology

transfer to the private sector. Members of this sector feel that

private programs tend to work better when an entrepreneurial

element of the private sector sees a chance to profitably develop

a new technology, in which case the organizational work is not

left entirely to Sea Grant.,

An atmosphere of cooperation and goodwill between universities

and industr y should be effective' in increasing the awareness of

university personnel of the practical problems of working in the

ocean commercial sector. Industry, Government, and universities

have developed common working interests in ocean resources by

interacting together. More interaction needs to occur and NOAA

could gain by encouraging and sponsoring this dialog.
^..3 a

4.8 The Climate Communit

In general, it is more difficult and expensive to achieve

adequate observational coverage over marine areas than over land.

For this reason alone, special care must be taken in the design

and maintenance of climatological data bases for support of the

marine user community. Marine climatological files are defined

here to include both raw observations and selected products in

processed form. To be useful, the right kinds of climatological

information need to be archived and the information should be in

the proper formats.

Ocean-related industries need and use information derived from

the results of climate research. Much of the climate research

focuses on time scales and geographical areas of interest to

operational marinQ users, and is important for planning and daily

operations of a wide range of ocean industry activities.

4.8.1 Surve _Results X

The requirements for good marine climatological information are

specified in terms of several broad functional areas as shown in

Table 11. Both real time and archival information is needed.

The archival data supports data base construction and model

design with the real-time data supporting model run evaluations

and near-real-time climate monitoring. The functional areas

shown in the table include most of the marine commercial

t

applications which are major users of marine climatological data

i bases. The following paragraphs discuss each of these functions

in some detail and give examples in each area.

Data base construction is critical for operations planning for

many marine operations that are so environmentally sensitive that

they cannot be carried out at all under certain conditions.

Before the economic feasibility of certain operations can be

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det?rmined, the operation must. be tested under the climatological

conditions which can be expected in the area of interest.

In some cases, a particular operation can be scheduled during the

season (month) when conditions are favorable from a long—term

(climatological) viewpoint. However, in many cases it is not

adequate to know only the. monthly mean values for the most

critical parameters. It is necessary to know how often a

sub—critical "window" can be expected to occur and how long it

will last. For example: deploying the "mining string" from a

deep—ocean mining vessel requires a certain number of hours with

wind and sea state below specific threshold values; and anchoring

a drilling rig requires a different number of hours with

different threshold limits.

It is obvious that some operations planning can be accomplished

with monthly statistics of key parameters in field form at grid

points; however, "window analysis" requires archives containing

the same key parameters in field form at grid points on a daily

or twice—daily basis for a number of years (at least five years

and, preferably, 50 to 100 years). Discussions with various

components of the marine user community reveal that the key

parameters for operations planning, in approximate order of

priority, are as follows:

— Sea State (Significant Wave Height, Predominant

Direction/Period)

— Surface Wind (Direction/ Speed)

— Sea Surface Temperature

— Surface Current (Direction/Speed)

— Ice Statistics

— Sensible Weather Statistics

— Restrictions to Visibility Statistics

— Air Temperature

Data base construction is also important for nearly all types of

4-45 0
G`

marine design: ships, drilling rigs, platforms, piers,

breakwaters, habitats, etc. The object in economical marine

construction is to design structures (vessels) which will

withstand. expected environmental conditions but not be

over-designed, thereby increasing costs beyond what is reasonably

required. It is customary to use what is commonly called the

100-year design climatology. That is, curves showing the

probability of specific values for key parameters occuring in a

period of 100 years. Since 100 years of observations (or

analyses of observations in field form) are seldom available,

statistical procedures are used to arrive at the required

100-year design climatologies.

The climatological parameters needed to support structural design

are somewhat the same as those needed for operations planning

except that many marine structures are frequency sensitive. This

means that design work depends upon a knowledge of the entire

wave energy spectrum (the distribution of spectral densities as

functions of frequency and direction). In addition, it is

usually necessary to know the distribution of ocean currents with

depth. Key parameters, in approximate order or priority, for

structural design are:

- Spectral Wave Energy Distribution (with Frequency and

Direction)

- Current Structure (Direction and Speed) with Depth

- Boundary Layer Wind Structure (Direction and Speed with

Height)

- Ice Statistics

Structural design work can be based either upon observational

files from specific observation stations or analysis files of key

parameters in field format at grid points. Again, the length of

the second should be at least five years (preferably 50 to 100

years) .

4-46

a

z

^iY>
i

Special case studies can cover many diverse subjects. Three

representative subjects of interest to academic and commercial

users are basic climate analysis, pollution or environmental

studies, and biological investigations. Climate studies of the

i

oceans consider basic source functions such as the ocean serving

i

as a primary heat, moisture, and momentum source for the

l atmosphere and, therefore, an influence on much of the world's

weather (F.1 Nino this year is a prime example). It is essential

1 for climate researchers to have good (global) long-term means for

key parameters and the fields necessary to study shorter-term

anomalies from these means.

Of primary concern are the factors which control air/sea exchange

of heat, moisture, and momentum:

- Sea Surface Temperature

- Air/Sea Temperature

- Wind Structure in the Boundary Layer

- Low-Level Stability Structure

- Wave Roughness

The storage of heat in the oceans:

- Mixed Layer Depth or

- Depth to Selected Isotherms

Future commercial activities such as Ocean Thermal Energy

conversion will depend on climate studies of these phenomenon and

the redistribution of heat, moisture, and momentum:

- Ocean Current Structure

- Atmospheric Wind/Temperature Structure

Some of the oceanographic parameters needed for climate studies

are not now analyzed by NOAA and are available only from the

I' Fleet Numerical Oceanographic Center (FNOC). Of particular

4-47

+x i
}

J

JI 4-48

importance are mixed layer depth, depths to selected isotherms,

and surface currents. Action is required to add daily analyses

of these parameters to NOAA marine climatology files.

Pollution studies gained importance with the increased interest

in drilling for oil/gas in coastal waters and the rapidly

increasing population in coastal zones (oceanic pollution is

becoming more of a threat). Detailed pollution studies are

virtually a "must" before new construction is permitted in these

areas. The recent studies conducted in the Baltimore Canyon and

Santa Barbara Channel areas are prime examples; environmental

impact studies for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plants

are another example for future consideration.

Most pollution studies are based on a combination of detailed

field surveys and Hydrodynamic-Numerical (HN) model runs. The

latter, especially, need marine climatological inputs to specify

initial and boundary conditions. Of particular importance are

local climatological data as follows:

- Surface Winds

- Ocean Thermal Structure (or Density Structure) with Depth

- Current Structure with Depth

- Chemical Compensation

In addition, it is necessary to have available the following

"fixed" files.

- Detailed Land/Sea Boundaries

- Detailed Bathymetry

- Tidal Harmonic Functions

Fish population studies are a prime example of biological

investigations. Academic studies of marine mammals and ecosystem

balance, in general, are also included. Recent studies by the

Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) reveal that the

E
drastic decline in the Alaskan king crab fisheries can only

partially be attributed to over- fishing. Predation by protected

mammals was a more serious factor, but most important of all was

destruction of the young population through transport by

anomalous currents into areas unfavorable for survival.

Biological investigations of this type are frequently supported

by HN and Ecosystem Model runs. These runs, and associated

general climatic investigations of anomalous conditions, require

the following climatic information:

- Ocean Thermal Structure with Depth

- Current Structure with Depth

- Surface Winds

- Ice Statistics

- Chemical Composition

4.8.2 Issues

Because of the relative shortage of observations over many marine

areas (especially "conventional" or "non-satelliteft

observations), numerical analysis models tend to drift from the

probably "true" state of the atmosphere or ocean after a certain

number of analysis sequences unless proper climatological control

is exercised. If insufficient observations are available, the

analyses drift because of an inadequate "first guess ; 11 the 11 first

guess" is usually: the previous analysis or a short range

numerical forecast, or a mixture of both. It has been found that

drift still occurs in sparse data areas unless a partial

reversion to climatology is made to each analysis cycle.

This reversion is typically made before the new observations are

introduced and is performed in: - sub'surface analyses

(particularly for thermal structure, including mixed layer

depth); surface analyses (particularly for pressure and

temperature); and upper atmosphere analyses (particularly for

4-49

. d
4-50

pressure-height, temperature, and moisture). The marine

climatological information for model support is most useful if

maintained in field form at grid points at standard depth below

the surface and at standard pressure levels in the atmosphere.

This type of information is presently weakest in the Northern

Hemisphere tropical latitudes and in all oceanic areas of the

Southern Hemisphere.

I
;. .

.. ..... ...

^r a

r

4.9 Data Collection

Since 1960, we have had an unusual tool that permits us to

collect global information in extremely short periods of time.

This tool is a space platform either orbiting the Earth at

t

regular intervals many times each day or seemingly fixed in

space, always viewing a single large area. Using telescopes and

r) radars to collect Earth environmental information, these new

,i additions permit collection of the measurements indicated in the

previous tables with great accuracy and on—time scales consistent

with environmental charges that are important to marine users.

Table 12 identifies generic sensors with each of the

measurements. Remote sensing from space is the most important

data collection tool available to the marine user and readers

^

(f

should evaluate the marine user needs that follow with this

fl potential in mind.

The capability of current U.S, space systems to measure the

marine user parameters are shown in Table 13. The satisfaction

of user needs spans a range of important qualifiers such as

format, time delay, area coverage, etc. Each measurement is

compared to these qualifiers in the table. For example, sea

surface temperature can be measured now using IR sensors, but

measurements are cloud limited as shown. The table also reveals

major voids in capability such as winds, waves, tides, and many

ice conditions. Table 13 evaluates the U.S, satellites as a

composite system. Table 14 identifies specific measurements with

a particular satellite and adds planned systems such as NROSS and

Ocean Topographic Experiment Satellite System — NASA (TOPEX) to

the current capabilities.

NROSS is of particular interest to marine users because it offers

r

new sensors (established during the SEASAT program) that will

fill many of the voids in current capabilities. NROSS is a U.S.

Navy initiative with NASA (but not NOW participation and the

planned system will provide the capabilities shown in Table 15.

'LI 4-51
Still mis:,ing are major wave and ice measurements only made

possible if a SAR is used. The U.S, does not have a SAR sensor

planned for operational space application. Our Canadian,

Japanese, and European neighbors are manufacturing SAR systems

for the Radarsat and ERS-1 programs at the present time. The

international satellite remote sensing line up is shown in

Table 16.

4-s2

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4-57 ' I
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I.

5.0 Correlation of User Needs with Current NOAA Products and

Services

Section 4.0 of this assessment summarized the major support

^i service requirements (measurements and/or processed analysis and

forecasts) for key functions within eight sectors of the overall

marine user community. The purpose of this section is to

correlate the user needs identified in Section 4.0 with current

NOAA capabilities to provide the required products and services.

Since certain user products and services have greater operational

importance than others, an attempt has been made to quantify the

value of each NOAA service capability. Although this process is

subjective, it is based upon years of experience in this field

and facilitates the assignment of priorities to specific support

service areas which require more emphasis by NOAA.

The list of individual NOAA products and services which provide

some degree of support to the marine user community is very long.

The most complete compilations of the products and services

currently available are contained in:

— 11 NOAA Products and Services of the National Weather

Service, National Environmental Satellite Service,

Environmental Data Service and the Environmental Research

Laboratories." Volumes I, II, III and IV, November 1977.

— 'O National Ocean Survey Products and Services Handbook."

NOAA—NOS Tech. Services Pub., May 1982.

Some of the products and services detailed in these two 1

publications are specifically oriented toward marine users;

others are more "general—purpose" in .content and benefit soveral

different user communities (e.g., aviation, agriculture, general f

public, and marine). Furthermore, study of these documents

revealed that some important (and very valuable) functions

performed by NOAA were not listed at all, especially observation

I ( programs such as the Volunteer Ship Observation Program, the

C 5-1

,'
r 

-9 

JI

i,

• I

National Ocean Buoy Center (NOBC) Observation Program, etc.

Finally, there were several new NOAA support service capabilities

which are being developed ( or are in a stage of advanced

planning) which we felt were particularly important to marine

users and should be evaluated here.

In order to avoid getting bogged down in the details of

individual products (charts, messages, satellite images, etc.),

NOAA service capabilities were assembled into 24 broad

categories as shown in Table 17, These categories were then

subjected to quantitative correlation with the user requirements

discussed in Section 4.0. The results of these correlations

(comparisons) are presented in Tables 18 through 25. A separate

table has been prepared for each of the eight major components of

the marine user community. The vertical axis shows the 24

existing (or developing) NOAA support service categories

introduced in Table 17, the horizontal axes show the major

functions to be supported for each component, and the interior

symbols present our estimate of the relative user value in each -

matrix intersection.

i

An inspection of the full and half-shaded symbols gives an

immediate indication of which functions are most environmentally

sensitive and which NOAA service categories are potentially most

valuable. As would be expected, the different marine user

components have different requirements. To some degree these are

function dependent, but the geographical area of operations (and

the type/amount of observational and forecast coverage available)

also plays a critical role in determining the products and

services needed. It is interesting to note that requirements of

commercial fishing industries are so comprehensive and sensitive

that a NOAA capability to provide good support to this component

would initially assure satisfactory services to other marine

users.

NOAA capabilities to provide products and services are not

I

5-2

^ ^ ^
Table 17. NOAA Service Capability

NOAA Service

Capability

C rl

y M

wsP

M L W

N •O

a

BHz

Ship Observation Programs G T`

Buoy Observation Programs E

Weather Satellite Observation E

Programs

Oceanographic Satellite Observation N

Program

Subsurface Observation Program F

Manned/Automatic Coastal and Island F

Observation Programs

Tide Observation Program G

Marine Radar Observation Programs G 'r

E

Basic SFC/DA Analysis and Forecast ,

Programs

Sea State Analysis and Forecast F

Programs

Sea Surface Temp (SST) Analysis F

Programs

Subsurface Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Emergency Warning Services E

Coastal/Offshore/E. Lakes Forecast G ^.

Services

High Seas Weather Service F (T^

Port Services for Marinrrs G T

Marine Displays/Telephone/Radio F

Services

Satellite Image Distribution E

Programs

Satellite Winds/Soundinpa/Summaries

Programs

G ,

Ice Information Programs G T

Tide/Current/Water-Level Forecast

Programs

F-G T

Marine Survey Operations G

Marine Charting Services E

Marine Climatological Summaries F

!1

Present Capability

E - Excellent

G - Good

F - Fair

N - None

Expansion Planned

f Major

It Moderate

T Some

Existing

Capability

Deemed

Adequate

5-3

Jl :,
^ ft _ '6D 1I

Table 18. NOAA Product Matchup-Offshore Oil and Gas Industries

NOAA Service

Capability a

xl G

0p N

O d

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u m

O N

'1 N

C Q

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W

Y

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H

4

O

m

m

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p 

x

T O

O M

Y

N

Y Y

0 O

.1 0.

0 7

,.1 N

Ship Observation Programs (D'

Buoy Observation Programs ( Q

e

Weather Satellite Observation

Programs

(D (D T

Oceanographic Satellite Observation o

Program

Subsurface Observation Program Q (3 Q

Planned/Automatic Coastal and Island 0

Observation Programs

Tide Observation Program ( Q (D Q

Marine Radar Observation Programs

Basic SFC/UA Analysis and Forecast •

Programs

O •

0

Sea State Analysis and Forecast

Programs

(D (D (D T

Sea Surface Temp (SST) Analysis

Programs

Subsurface Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Emergency Warning Services Q

Coastal/Offshore/E. Lakes Forecast

Services

High Seas Weather Service ® e

Port Services for Mariners

Ilarine Displays/Telephone/Radio

Services

Satellite Image Distribution 0

Programs

Satellite Winds/Soundings/Summaries

Programs

Ice Information Programs 0

1 0 3 O 0

Tide/ Current/Water —Level Forecast

Programs

O

0

Marine Survey Operations (D (1) Q

Marine Charting Services (D (D Q

Marine Climatological Summaries 3

USER VALUE CODE

. HIGH

MODERATE

Q LOW

SOME

5-4
I

W N'., t,1LA*Y

Table 19. NOAH Product Matchup-Marine Transportation Industries

NOAA Service

Capability n o w

M w

6 ry O

O IN O:

u"

^>

L.

N

w `

m o 5

u N

O O w

400.

m

M°

N O C

O. C U

o

C

.0 N

NC

Ship Observation Programs 0 0

Buoy Observation Programs (3 Q Q

Weather Satellite Observation •

Programs

Oeeanographlt Satellite Observation •

Program

Subsurface Observation Program

Manned/Au coma tic Coastal and Island

Observation Programs V

Tide Observation Program 0

Marine Radar Observation Programs

Basic SFC/UA Analysis and Forecast • O

Programs

•

0

O

0

Sea State Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Sea Surface Temp (SST) Analysis

Programs

Subsurface Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Emergency Horning Services 0

Coastal/Offshore/E. Lakes Forecast

Services

High Seas Heather Service 0 0

Port Services for Mariners Q

Marne Displays/Telephone/Radio O

Services

Satellite Image Distribution

Programs

Satellite Winds/Soundings/Summaries

Programs

Ice Information Programs 0 ` Q

Tide/Current/Water—Level Forecast

Programs 11

Marine Survey Operations

Aarine Charting Services Q

Marine Climatological Summaries

USER VALUE CODE

S HIGH

® MODERATE

O LOW

SOME

5-5
..,:^ [+^

Table 20. NOAA Product Matchup—Deep Ocean Mining Industries

NOAA Service

Capability

Y

'^ C

O0 C rl.

,4

m

Y MYM

^CC Y

W

o° m0 a Yal

H WYq

O

V C eo O O

^ M WN y

Yy

A N ^G

+^V

gym. a0

io

a u y

U O

N 0.

w In

Ship Observation Programs Q 0 o

Buoy Observation Programs Q

O O

Weather Satellite Observation

Programs

0

0

O A

(3

Oceanographic Satellite Observation

Program

Subsurface Observation Program Q

Manned/Automatic Coastal mid Island

Observation Programs

^;\

W

Tide Observation Program

Marine Radar Observation Programs O

Basic SFC/UA Analysis and Forecast

Programs 0

0

O

S

Sea State Analysis and Forecast •

Programs

Sea Surface Temp (SST) Analysis

Programs

Subsurface Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Emergency Warning Services •

Coastal/Offshore/E. Lakes Forecast

Services

O

High Seas Weather Service 0

Port Services for Mariners

Marine Displays/Telephone/Radio

Services

Satellite Image Distribution

Programs

Satellite Winds/Soundings/Summaries

Programs

Ice Information Programs

Tide/Current/Water—Level Forecast

Programs Q

0

0 0

Marine Survey Operations (D Q

Marine-Charting Services

Marine Climatological Summaries

USER VALUE CODE•

• HIGH

® MODERATE

O LOW

Q SOME

I

i

Y

rI^

I '

5-6 1 ^^
5-7

L1

i

i

P

USER VALUE CODE

HIGH

0 MODERATE

LOW

W SOME

Table 21. NOAH Product Matchup-Commercial Fishing Industries

•r

NOAA Service

Capability

O m

w>

w

o w

°o s it

u .nj yR+

. Oe1

a N

w W

F u

F I

W H

0 g

w M

N N W

u a~i Nu

W^

69

u

y1 L

av)

Ship Observation Programs (D 0 0 O

Buoy Observation Programs (D 0 0 0 0

O O O

0 0

Weather Satellite Observation

Programs

0 0 0 0

Oceanographic Satellite Observation

Program

Subsurface Observation Program S

0 0

Manned/Automatic Coastal and Island

Observation Programs

Tide Observatlon Program 0

Marine Radar Observation Programs (D 0

0 0 0

Basle SFC/UA Analysis and Forecast

Programs

0 0 0

Sea State Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Sea Surface Temp ( SST) Analysis • .

Programs

Subsurface Analysis and Forecast . .

Programs

Emergency Warning Services 0

Coastal/ Offshore /E. Lakes Forecast • • •

Services

High Seas Weather Service 0

Port Services for Mariners

0 0

Marine Displays / Telephone / Radio

Services

0 0

Satellite Image Distribution

Programs

Q

Satellite. Winds/Soundings/Summaries

Programs

Ice Information Programs 0 0 0

Tide/Current/Water—Level Forecast

Programs 0 4 0 0 0

Marine Survey Operations 0

Marine Charting Services 0

Marine Climatological Summaries 0
Ft 

i

URIGENIAL PACZ3E Iw

OF POOR QUALITY

Table 22. NOAA Product Matchup-Offshore Support and

Construction Industries

NOAA Service

Capability

u u

^ e

N

a

v

mo

wo P

o

0 U

W

M c

u ti

nu

U N

o "n w

vww

O

Ship Observation Programs CD I I

Q

a^ y Observation Programs

Q Q (3 0

Weather Satellite Observation

Programs

0

Oceanographic Satellite Observation O

Program

Subsurface Observation Program w

0 0

Manned/Automatic Coastal and Island

Observation Programs

Tide Observation Program •

Marine Radar Observation Programs •

Basic SFC/UA Analysis and Forecast

Programs

® e

O

0 0

Sea State Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Sea Surface Temp (SSI) Analysis

Programs

0

Subsurface Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Emergency Warning Services

Coastal/Offahore/E. Lakes Forecast

Services

• •

High Seas Weather Service Q Q

Port Services for Mariners (^

Marine Displays/Telephone/Radio

Services 0 Q

0

Satellite Image Distribution

Programs

Satellite Winds/Soundings/Summaries

Programs

Ice Information Programs (3 (3 G)

Tide/Current/Water —Level Forecast

Programs

Marine Survey Operations 0

(^

Marine Charting Services 0

Marine Climatological Summaries O . Q

USER VALUE CODE

• HICH

MODERATE

O LOW

SOME

5-8
±)

Table 23. NOAA Product Matchup-Private Forecasting and

Value Added Industries

NOAA Service

Capability `

>

^

A 1.

1%1

..

w

^

M 7

A N

pppp

o w

N 7

M Vi

A

M d

T O

d"q b a

ro ,'

y

^ u

L W^

N

^

0, u

°

y

u

IN

W G O

v w

U w U

w M U d O ••1

w' s

`e

m]

wo V

W.°0i

y •^M

W

Ship Observation Programs ® Q 0 (D 0

Buoy Observation Programs 0

0

Q 0

Weather Satellite Observation

Programs

Oceanographic Satellite Observation

Program

0

(^TT Subsurface Observation Program W (1) G)

0 (D (D 0 0

Manned/Automatic Coastal and Island

Observation Programs

Tide Observation Program

Marine Radar Observation Programs 0

O

Q

Basic SFC/UA Analysis and Forecast

Programs

0

Sea State Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Sea Surface Temp (SST) Analysis O O O

Programs

0

Subsurface Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Emergency Warning Services 0

Coastal/Offshore/E. Lakes Forecast m

Services

High Seas Weather Service 0

Port Services for Mariners Q

Marine Displays/Telephone/Radio

Services

Satellite Image Distribution Q •

Programs

Satellite Winds/Soundings/Summaries

Programs

Ice Information Programs 0

Tide/Current/Water—Level Forecast

Programs

0

Marine Survey Operations Q Q

Marine Charting Services

Marine Climatological Summaries •

USER VALUE CODE

• HIGH

MODERATE

O LOW

SOME

5-9

t•

J D
..Ff- 4 ^

^.t

Table 24. NOAA Product Matchup-Sea Grant and Academic Institutions

NOAA Service

Capability

m

Sb

N

'yO

s

3 va

o°

wS

.o..°..

Fm '

oQ

L•^O

o x

0

e

+1 N

u ' n"

N

o y

^4' e

e0

Ship Observation Programs 0 (-

Buoy Observation Programs 0 Q

0

Weather Satellite Observation

Programs

Oceanographic Satellite Observation

Program

Subsurface Observation Program 0 0

Manned/Automacic Coastal and Islnnd

Observation Programs

Tide Observation Program Q Q

Marine Radar Observation Programs

Basic SFC/UA Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Sea State Analysis and Forecast O

Programs

0 0 0 0

Sea Surface Temp (SST) Analysis

Programs

Subsurface Analysis and Forecast O O O

Programs

Emergency Warning Services

Coastal/Offshore/E. Lakes Forecast

Services

High Seas Weather Service

Port Services for Mariners

Marine Displays/Telephone/Radio

Services

Satellite Image Distribution O o

Programs

Satellite Winds/Soundings/Summaries O

Programs

Ice Information Programs Q 0 Q

o 0 0

Tide/Current/Water —Level Forecast

Programs

Marine Survey Operations CD 0 0 Q

Marine Charting Services

Marine Climatological Summaries

LL/

0 0 0

USER VALUE CODE

HIGH

0 MODERATE

0 LOW

CD SOME Uf (VC iNi l! {'B a 4w

OF POOR QUALITY

5-10
kA ]16',na., ..,

r .r a

1.

uI ...

v Y .. 4a:

C f' f BLit Q..%Li` Y,

Table 25. NOAA Product Matchup-The Climate Community

^J

Yp

^Y

NOAA Service

Capability

o

^9 ;

H

GU

9

H A

A o

aoa

O=

m

mb

a qq o

0fq M

+?

0

1 w

'ti a

a m

O al

a

'1a :0

e

O

:. W

Ship Observation Programs 0 ~0 0

Buoy Observation Programs

Weather Satellite Observation O (, O

Programs

0

.

0

oceanographic Satellite Observation

Program

Subsurface Observation Program 0 (D 1 0 Q

0

Manned/Automatic Coastal and Island

Observation Programs

Tide Observation Program Q 1 Q

Marine Radar Observation Programs

Basic SFC/UA Analysis and Forecast

Programs

Sea State Analysis and Forecast O O

Programs

® •

0 0

Sea Surface Temp (SST) Analysis

Programs

®

0

Oub^vrf,.ce Analysis and Forecast O

,mergency Warning Services

Coastal/Offshore/E. Lakes Forecast

Services

High Seas Weather Service Q

Port Services for Mariners

Marine Displays/Telephone/Radio

Services

0 0

Satellite Image Distribution

Programs

Satellite Winds/Soundings/Summaries

Programs

Ice Information Programs 0 0 0

Tide/Current/Water—Level Forecast

Programs

O

o

Marine Survey Operations Q

Marine Charting Services

Marine Climatological Summaries 0

USER VALUE CODE

• HIGH

0 MODERATE

O LOW

SOME

5-1]
equally well developed in each of the broad capability categories

shown in Tables 18 through 25. NOAA has recognized the

deficiencies in some categories and has taken action to improve

the quality and/or expand the products and services offered. In

order to assess NOAA's existing and planned capabilities to

support all components of the marine user community, we have

computed "total value scores" for each of the 24 NOAA service

categories. Individual full-circle values were assigned a weight

of 4, half circles 3, quarter circles 2, lined circles 1 and

blanks 0. These values were then totaled for all eight user

components for each NOAA category to obtain a quantitative

estimate of total value. The results of this assessment, }

together with each evaluation of NOAA's capability and the

expansion planned (or needed in each area of interest), are shown

in Table 26.

i

Care should be used in interpreting the ranking of capabilities

in Table 26. Categories near the end of the list still may have :[

important overall value because they support other users. Port f

services for mariners, for example, are critical to the sport

fisherman and small boat recreationist; marine radar observation

programs benefit forecasting for the general public living along

the coast, etc. It is essential to remember that some categories

are most useful to only one or two components of the marine user

community. SST analysis programs, for example, are of primary

b

interest to the commercial fishing industry and the climate

community. Categories near the top of the total value list

generally have value spread through all components of the marine

user community. This is illustrated by Table 27 which shows the

most valuable NOAA service capabilities for each of the eight

user sectors.

Sea state analysis and forecast programs are found to be of major

value to seven out of eight user sectors, although a viable

oceanographic satellite observation program is favored by five

out of eight. Notice that present NOAA capabilities in these two

.I

5_12

J
I

1.

1

r

t

I

i

key categories are noted as fair and none, respeotively. Two

other categories in the ten most valuable also have subjective

rankings of fair (SST analysis programs and marine climatological

summaries). The latter was ranked so low because NOAA

documentation indicates the last significant update in marine

climatologies was made in 1970.

NOAA has corrective action underway in a number of areas to

correct deficiencies in marine support services; some of the most

significant include:

- inauguration of an Ocean Services Center (OSC) Program.

- Expansion of Ship Observation Programs (surface and

subsurface) through programs such as Shipboard

Environmental Acquisition System (SEAS), Maritime

Reporting Program (MAREP), etc.

- Expansion of the Buoy Observation Program through

activation of more moored stations and procurement of

operationally oriented drifting buoys.

- Development of advanced software routines for: SST

analysis, Mixed Layer Depth (MLD) analysis,

Current/Tide/Water-Level Prediction.

- Installation of more manned and automatic weather

stations on headlands, islands, and off-shore

platforms of opportunity.

Table 28 presents a list of specific recommendations based upon

this correlation of marine user needs with present NOAA products

and services. If resources for these recommendations cannot be

found without major reprogramming, it is suggested that NOAA

consider commensurate reductions in:

- Marine Survey Operations

- Marine Charting Services

- Continental U.S. Observation Programs

V

k' 5-13
Total(1 )

Value

Score NOAA Service Capability

Present(2)

NOAA

Capability

Expansion(0)

Planned

(Needed)

94 Sea State Analysis and Fair

Forecast Programs

89 Oceanographic Satellite None

Observation Program

76 Ship Observation Programs Goad • 'r

72 Buoy Observation Programs Excellent

71 ICE Information Programs Good T

67 Weather Satellite Excellent T•

Observation Programs

66 Tide/Current/Water-Level Fair-Good

Forecast Programs

62 Sea Surface Temp (SST) Fair

Analysis Programs

62 Marine Climatological Fair (10

Summaries

58 Basic S1• C1UA Analysis and Excellent

Forecast Programs

58 Subsurface Observation Fair '(r

Program

51 Emergency Warning Services Excellent

48 Satellite Image Distribution Excellent

Programs

46 Manned/AUCOmatiC Coastal and Fair

Island Observation Programs

41 Nigh Sees Weather Service Fair ( T

42 Tide Observation Program Good

18 Subsurface Analysis and None 0^

Forecast Programs

)B Coastal/Offshore/C• Lakes Good

Forecast Services

14 Marine Survey Operations Goad

11 Part Services for Mariners Goad 'r

29 Marine Radar Observation Goad •r

Programs

20 Marine Charting Services Excellent

I] Marine Displays/Telephone/ Fair

Radio Services

8 Satellite Winds/Soundings/ Excellent

Summaries Programs

}

t

:I

i7

Expansion Planned

* Mayor

n Moderate

T Some

Existing

Capability

Deemed

Adequate

^J,

r_t`

t

.m.re_..- m.7.>'S+v-^ spa —w.;t n

Y^^ m

Table 26. NOAA Sevice Capabilities Potential Value to All Marine

User Components. (Assumes All User Functions and Each

User Component of Equal Importance.)

(1) Weighted 4 - 0 for value symbols in Tables 18 through 25.

(2) Author's evaluation.

(0) Based on NOAA studies, discussions with senior NOAA staff and author's opinions.

5-14
Table 27. Most Valuable NOAA Service Capabilities for

Marine User Community Components

OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRIES

1. Ice Information Programs

2. Sea State Analysis and Forecast Programs

3. Oceanographic Satellite Observation Program

MARINE TRANSPORATION INDUSTRIES

1. Basic Surface/Upper-Air Analysis and Forecast Programs

2. Sea State Analysis and Forecast Programs

3. Ship Observation Programs

3. Ice Information Programs

DEEP OCEAN MINING INDUSTRIES

1. Oceanographic Satellite Observation Program

2. Sea State Analysis and Forecast Programs

3. Ship Observation Program

COMMERCIAL FISHING INDUSTRIES

1. Sea State Analysis and Forecast Programs

2. Tide/Current/Water-Level Forecast Programs

3. Oceanographic Satellite Observation Program

[ 3. Ice Information Programs

OFFSHORE SUPPORT AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES

1. Sea State Analysis and Forecast Programs

2. Tide Observation Program

3. Manned/Automatic Coastal and Island Observation Program

PRIVATE FORECASTING AND VALUE ADDED INDUSTRIES

1. Ship Observation Programs

1. Buoy Observation Programs

3. Oceanographic Satellite Observation Program

4. We-ether Satellite Observation Programs

4. Sea State Analysis and Forecast Programs

SEA GRANT AND ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS

1. Sea Surface Temperature Analysis Programs

2. Subsurface Observation Program

3. Tide/Current/Water-Level Forecast Programs

i. Marine Climatological Summaries

THE CLIMATE COMMUNITY

1. Sea Surface Temperature Analysis Programs

2. Oceanographic Satellite Observation Program

3. Buoy Observation Programs

5-15

H

a
TABLE 28. SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS TO

IMPROVE NOAA MARINE USER SERVICE CAPABILITIES

SEA STATE ANALYSIS AND FORECAST PROGRAMS

Obtain FNOC's Spectral Ocean Wave Model. Connect to the NMC

computer stream. Drive with NMC analyzed and forecast p

marine wind fields. [ Level of Effort - Moderate].

OCEANOGRAPHIC SATELLITE OBSERVATION PROGRAM

i

Push reinstatement of this program in the national budget.

Emphasize sensors to measure sea state, surface winds, SST,

ice coverage and atmospheric vertical temperature profiles.

[Level of Effort - Major] [Side Benefit to Ice Information

Program].

SHIP OBSERVATION PROGRAMS

Accelerate plans for automatic and semiautomatic surface and

subsurface measurement systems. Focus on sparse data routes f

in (a) eastern North Pacific (b) western North Atlantic and

(c) Gulf of Mexico.

[Level of Effort - Moderate] [ Side Benfefit to Subsurface

Observation Program].

BUOY OBSERVATION PROGRAMS

Double the number of deepwater moored systems. Initiate

operational drifting buoy programs in (a) eastern North

Pacific and ( b) North Atlantic. Add thermistor chains to

all buoys.

[Level of Effort - Moderate]

Observation Program].

[Side Benefit to Subsurface .g

TIDE/CURRENT/WATER-LEVEL FORECAST PROGRAMS

Assemble a family of general - purpose Hydrodynamic Numerical

(HN) models with land / sea boundaries, tidal boundaries and

bathymetry ready to drive with NMC winds on ".as needed" or

"routine" basis.

[Level of Effort - Modest].

SST ANALYSIS PROGRAMS

Develop Global, standard - mesh SST analysis program for

support of The Climate Community and fine -mesh SST analysis

programs for all U . S. Commercial Fisheries areas. Design

models to blend satellite, ship and buoy data.

[Level of Effort - Modest],

5-16

V^V'>
i

If

1

L -.

IIr i

L

5_1,

r

1.

t

1

r

Table 28 ( Cunt' d)

MARINE CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARIES

Prepare updated Marine Climatological Summaries for each

ocean basin.

(Level of Effort — Moderate).

SUBSURFACE ANALYSIS AND FORECAST PROGRAMS

Develop an operationally—oriented Ocean Circulation/Thermal

Structure Analysis and Forecast Model for routine use at NMC

[Level of Effort — MaJor].
I 

s

1.

I.

I

i.,

1i

y

6.0 Perspectives of Value-Added Industries on NOAA's Products

and Marine Services

The resources of the Federal Government are finite and, because

the services which the marine user requires are becoming more

sophisticated and specific, the marine industry has turned to

private companies to complement, extend, and customize the

services and products they receive from NOAA. These private

companies are referred to as Value-Added industries. Also, NOAA

and the NWS have traditionally focused their attention and

resources on areas with the largest population density; marine

weather services have, therefore, had lower priority. As a

consequence, the private sector has played an important and

expanding role in satisfying the forecast requirements of the

marine user community. These Value-Added companies enhance, or

add value to, NOAA data to create a tailored, client-specific

product of their own which they hope to sell at a profit.

Value-Added companies are also considered users by NOAA.

However, the special position that Value-Added companies occupy

requires special consideration as a user group. Since both NOAA

and Value-Added companies seek to supply the end user with

necessary information, there exists the possibility , of

competition between the private sector and the Government. Both

sides would like to avoid suoh competition; Value-Added companies

because they want to secure their niche in the marketplace and

NOAA because it desires to promote the efforts of private

industry in using the marine environment.

A general conclusion is that NOAA should provide more general

information and take responsibility for generating large data

bases and numerical code output while Value-Added companies

should provide specific data to clients who require more

specialized and higher resolution products. However, this still

leaves a gray area where the responsibilities may either overlap

or not be met. It is the purpose of this section to review the

F 6-1
issues involved and to provide a clearer understanding• of the !^

relative roles of NOAA and the Value-Added industry in fulfilling

the needs of commercial marine users.

I

6.1 The Issues

Examples of Value-Added services include site-specific ocean

condition and weather forecasts which allow operations, such as

resupplying an oil-rig, to be performed safely and efficiently.

Optimum ship routing, statistical studies (hindcasts) for ocean

platform design and general coastal forecasts for public

broadcast media are other examples of Value-Added services.

In order to stay in business, a Value-Added company must sell its

services to the marine user at a profit. A conflict arises when

NOAA also tries to provide this necessary service, since a {

private company will have trouble competing with a tax supported

service. The possibility of competition is a majov concern of

Value-Added companies.

The position of Value-Added industry is made even more precarious

by its dependence on NOAA for its raw material (i.a.,

observations and numerical model outputs). If the content and

availability of NOAA products are not consistent, it is extremely

difficult for a cost-conscious Value-Added company to j

reconfigure its processing and marketing operations in order to

keep up with NOAA and still make a profit.

A schematic description of the relationship of Value-Added

industry to NOAA and to the end user, which attempts to depict

the flow of information, is shown in Figure 3. Though the

position of the Value-Added company appears to be squeezed

between the data sources and public service functions of NOAA,

this relation can also be seen as mutually beneficial. NOAA l

desires to disseminate the observational data that it collects 1

and stores. The limited resources of NOAA restrict its ability f

6-2
I

r s

t^.

{l

^f

ti I.

rJ-1

INFORMATION -^

ire 3. Value-Added Industry View of NOAA and

its' Service to the Marine Community

-6-3

N OAA

- OBSERVATIONS DATA BASE

- RESEARCH AND NUMERICAL MODELING

i

PUBLIC SERVICE

- GENERAL WEATHER

- MARINE SAFETY

VALUE-ADDED

INDUSTRY

I

I

I

TAILORED

L PRODUCTS USER GROUPS -

PRIVATE SECTOR
r^

f

i

.I

v

t

to provide all of the high quality, specific data desired by the

broad spectrum of marine users. Value-Added companies can

perform a positive function for NOAA in both of these areas. To

accomplish this sort of cooperative relationship, increased

communication and a clear realization of the issues involved is

necessary.

In summary, the predicament that Value-Added companies find

themselves in is twofold:

1. Value-Added industries are largely dependent on the data NOAA

provides and thus require a clear-cut policy from NOAA for

their own planning needs.

2. The marketing efforts of Value-Added industry can be

out-flanked if NOAA assumes a more aggressive policy of

fulfilling user needs (the dashed line in Figure 3).

Data Sources

The first set of issues involves the data which Value-Added

companies receive from NOAA. Value-Added industry sources of

data include:

A) FAX marine weather charts, which depict surface winds, air

pressure and sea-state,'etc.

B) Data circuits originating from the National Meteorological

Center (NMC) which provide digital data as well as graphics.

C) World Meteorological Organization (WMO) data circuits (e.g.

GTS), which are supported by NOAA and provide global weather

data.

D) Archived climatological data which can be obtained onComputer Compatible tape (CCT).

The need for observational data is supplemented by international t

data, Federal Aviation Association (FAA) weather data (AFTN), and

output from large numerical models (obtained through the NMC and

6-4 l
I 1

L

the NOAA Ocean Data Distribution System at the Fleet Numerical

Oceanography Center).

The remarkable ability of satellite remote sensing to give high

quality synoptic environmental data makes it an attractive data

f source for the Value—Added industry. This is particularly true

in the mid ocean areas, the Arctic and the Southern Hemisphere.

7

However, new active and passive microwave and color sensors are

needed to supply good marine data products.

The high cost to the Value—Added industry in gearing up for

satellite data processing and marketing points out the risks

involved in trying to predict NOAA policies in this area. The

key word is continuity. Consistency is the most important aspect

of the Value—Added industries reliance on NOAA data. The desire

by NOAA to improve its services to the general user community can

impact the relation of Value—Added companies to its NOAA data in

three ways:

1) Discontinuing an existing data source which is being used

profitably by Value—Added companies.

2) Modifying the data path or format so as to create expensive

hardware and software adjustments for Value—Added companies

3) Providing data access mechanisms to the general user which

were formerly the province of Value—Added companies.

The most important improvement of NOAA's data base policies,

via a vis Value—Added companies, woull be improvements, in data

access. These improvements include establishing direct high

speed data transmission lines to the Government's major data

bases so that private companies can access them by their own

computer.

By opening up its data banks, without further processing the

data, NOAA could facilitate the dissemination of NOAA Ia

environmental data to the general user by the Value—Added

6-5
i

companies. This is a role that the Value—Added companies would

very much like to expand. This would also fulfil] NOAA's charter

to disseminate its data as much as possible while encouraging the

participation of private industry.

NOAA Competition

Considering specific NOAA services, there is no controversy

regarding NOAA providing safety related information, collecting

and maintaining large marine data bases, or developing and

running large, numerical forecast models. The controversy of

competition with Value—Added industries begins with the

dissemination of these data sets to the general marine community.

Thus, the universal concern of all Value—Added companies is the

possibility of direct competition from NOAA in providing marine

services and products to the general user community. This

concern is based on the stated goal of NOAA to improve its user

services over a broad spectrum. It is exemplified by the

establishment of the Regional Ocean Service Centers, which is

intended to provide a sort of "one stop shopping center" for

marine users.

There is a wide range to the level of anxiety felt by the

Value—Added industry. Some of the smaller companies, which have

a regional clientele or serve as an established link between NOAA

and other users (e.g., flight charts for airlines), show only

mild concern, relying on the fact that NOAA does not want to

compete in such a- specificmarket. Larger Value—Added companies

whose resources can rival NOAA's in narrow areas, show a great

amount of anxiety about the future goals and capabilities of

NOAA. Given the variety of services offered by companies within

the Value—Added industry, it is not surprising that this range

exists.

The Value—Added companies see anything that might be labeled a

specific data product, whether it be operation, site or even

6-6
industry specific, as a marketable commodity which they should be

allowed to exploit. Site specific ice forecasting, the increased

sophistication of FAX information and more detailEd information

for ports and harbors are examples of NOAA capabilities which

fall into the Value-Added industry's definition of specific

service.

The establishment of the Regional Ocean Service Centers, such as

the one no,a operating in Seattle, is a main concern of the

Value-Added industries. The biggest potential problem with the

Ocean Service Centers is their emphasis on better communication.

Although this can hardly be considered a bad thing in a general

I

r sense, there is a segment of the Value-Added industry which

b markets its ability to penetrate the data bases of NOAA for other

private users. If the Centers make it very easy for the general

public to conveniently access formatted data, then a service of

the Value-Added industry will evaporate. One view of the

Value-Added industry is that the OSC's should be little more than

"information booths" where a marine user can go to get

^. information about which private company can deliver the type of

data product they want. Obviously, NOAA has more in mind than

r this.

The Value-Added companies interpret this as evidence that NOAA is

trying to expand into their marketplace. In fairness, it should

F

be realized that a main purpose of the centers is to improve

communication between .NOAA and private industry and in

particular, Value-Added companies. It is not clear at this time

R; what specific services will be developed at the centers which

will cause direct competition with Value-Added companies or

stifle their participation in new and expanding markets.

However, the enhanced general user orientation and consolidation

of NOAA resources to better serve the general user is enough to

cause significant anxiety in the Value-Added industy. The best

way to deal with this is to establish a representative

industry/NOAA working group that regularly convenes at the center

!!!

to resolve issues.

6-7
1.1w ^ 1 1

6,2 Resolution of Issues

Value-Added_ Industry_ Views

The most important criteria for separating the roles of NOAA and

Value-Added companies is the responsibility for general versus

specific data products.

If we assume that the criteria above is accepted, major

responsibilities of NOAA can be summarized as follows:

1) Collect, process, distribute (nationally and internationally)

and archive all types of marine observations from all parts

of the globe.

2) Prepare numerical meteorological oceanographic analyses and

forecasts (especially global) which require advanced models

and computers beyond those normally used by the private

sector,

3) Distribute (by data links and in grid-point format) the

results of regional and global numerical analyses/forecasts

for use by the private sector.

4) Issue general-purpose marine warnings and forecasts in the

interests of public safety.

5) Broadcast general-purpose, large-area marine analysis and

forecast charts for use by the general public and

private-sector forecasters.

6) Distribute satellite imagery of marine areas for use by the

private sector.

If we agree that

services can more

how can we best de

responsibility of

criteria that can

companies:

specialized, customized, or tailored marine

effectively be provided by the private sector,

lineate these services which should be the sole

the private forecasters? There are several

be used to define the role of private-sector

6-B
1) Statistical studies which are used in the design of a

particular marine vessel, structure, or installation.

2) Statistical studies which are used in the planning or

licensing of a particular marine operation or venture.

3) Instrumentation of commercially owned off-shore and coastal

platforms/installations and the taking of special

observations when required.

• 4) Marine forecast: services addressed to a particular commercial

entity (e.g., Fisheries Co-op), company (e.g., shipping

line), platform (e.g., off-shore drilling rig) or vessel

(e.g., specific Tuna Clipper).

5) Marine forecast services which are definitely site specific

I

(e.g., for the'position of a moving vessel or for a

certain point in the ocean).

• 6) Marine forecast services which are for a specific operation

" I or series of operations (e.g., a salvage or towing operation,

platform resupply, optimum track ship route selection,

r r

4I drill-ship posi,tt.oning, selection of optimum fishing

areas/tactics) .

In summary, the private sector should be responsible for services

which are specific, while NOAA should be responsible for those

v services which are general and involved with overall public

safety. If customizing of NOAA data or products is required to

i satisfy a commercial customer, it should be done by a commercial

company.

i

One of the best ways to illustrate the division of responsibility

for effective provision of marine weather services is through a

list of specific examples. Table 29 provides some typical

t` examples broken down by broad functional areas..

c

The resolution of these various issues will only occur by

effective communication.. Along with making its intentions clear

i

from a policy standpoint, NOAA should also increase its effort to

.{ contact individual Value-Added companies on a continuing basis.

6-9
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' I User conferences have traditionally been the method NOAA used to

reach out to the user community. These functions should, E'

however, be augmented by more direct communication .where candid

and individualized discussion can occur. It is important that }

these discussions take place on a frequent basis so that ideas

can be fully developed in parallel with changing market,

political, and technical climates.

6.3 Conclusions and Recommendations }

1

The most important actions that NOAA could take to improve their

interface with the Value-Added industries are:

1) Improve access to data bases: this access should include

high speeu lines to national data centers.

2) Make clear statements of policy.

I 3) Improve communication: contacts should be more frequent:

support a NOAA/User liaison group.

4) Expand satellite remote sensing capabilities: include

satellite data in easily accessible data circuits.

5) Encourage private companies to develop pilot data

applications programs: NOAA should act as a catalyst and a

liaison. f^

The emphasis in these recommendations is on the increased

commercialization of marine weather services. The success of

NASA has been at least partly due to the use of private companies

to develop the technology needed.

The increasing sophistication of data bases and data processing

which can be used by the ocean industry has allowed a significant

Value-Added industry to develop. Within the last decade, the

size and spectrum of capabilities of Value-Added companies have

increased to a point where the y perform a useful and necessary

service to the marine community which cannot be matched by NOAA.

The finite resources of NOAA and the expanding needs of the

6-12
marine community have created a situation where Value—Added

companies are an essential component of the dissemination of

ocean—related data. This balance satisfies NOAA's charter.

Thus, a mutually beneficial relationship exists between NOAA and

the Value—Added industry. However, it is a relationship that

must be better defined and continually monitored.

I

1

1

1

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I

1.

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6-13
lily/

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I

7.0 Applications Demonstrations (Pilot Experiments)

7.1 Experimental Definition

1. Considerable ocean research and technology development is

conducted by NOAA and related civilian agencies such as NASA and

the National Science Foundation. Much of this applied research

and development can lead to operational tools and techniques

that can benefit the commercial user. Some technology

developments may be adopted by private—sector enterprises to be

translated into products and services of commercial value. Other

developments may be assimilated into public—sector operations to

ff

enhance the production and delivery of services to benefit the

I.: public at large. Mechanisms to identify research activities and

new technology prospects with commercial application potential

Iare limited within NOAA. Government—conducted studies lack

visibility to the private—sector user. Study results frequently

remain dormant in agency files. Studies lack the ability to

mechanize the transfer of research results and technology

(

advancements into operational tools and techniques. As a

` consequence, much new work remains within the Government's

laboratories, unavailable to either enhance the capabilities and

[! well—being of the nation or to strengthen the commercial

r

viability of U.S. industry.

One mechanism by which such technology transfer may be II

accomplished involves the concept of pilot demonstrations, which ^I

involve the testing of a research result or new technology or

technique on a limited scale in an operational setting. The

r scope of demonstrations remain small; they proceed on a finite

i

time scale and have a definite end point. Pilot activities

rinvolve representative users who have the responsibility for

I

evaluating the utility of the candidate research, technology, or

Ltechnique. Unique partnerships between the users and the

sponsoring NOAA component exist to facilitate the transfer

process, and the user must share in the overall demonstration

C 7-1 i

---- -- ----- - -A.. 01-. .
7'

+'

process. U s e r a can be selected from public agencies or

j

commercial firms. A key element in this demonstration concept is

the need to establish and adhere to viability criteria. For

example, does the ren,earch or technology have operational or

commercial viability; or based on the user-generated evaluation

results, does the technology have operational utility?

The pilot demonstration concept has been successfully carried out

by NASA and in a recent instance in a joint endeavor with NOAA.

During the SEASAT Program, a series of such demonstrations were

conducted with industry groups representing major elements of the

ocean industry. While these active demonstrations were modified

to accommodate the premature failure of the satellite, they were

successful in most respects and served to establish firmly in the

mind of ocean industry the commercial.value and economic utility

of satellite oceanography in private-sector applications. In

1980, NASA initiated, and NOAA augmented, a pilot demonstration

to test the utility of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) on f

the Nimbus-7 satellite in commercial fishing operations. This

three-year evaluation has been completed with results clearly

indicating that Albacore Tuna fishermen can realize up to a

twenty-five percent fuel savings by operationally using maps of l

ocean surface color structure derived from observations by the

CZCS. These examples serve to illustrate that the pilot

demonstration concept has merit and is one viable vehicle by

which to implement the technology-transfer process.

As a part of this assessment, private-sector users were surveyed

to solicit their views on the pilot demonstration concept. i

Insight was gained into their perceived value of such

demonstrations, their willingness to participate by forming

industry/government partnerships, and their inclination to invest

resources in such pilot demonstrations. The results of this

inquiry e•an be summarized as follows:

7-2

I
TEL .

05

1) Private—sector users generally do not have visibility into

the research and technology prospects being conducted within

NOAA.

2) All sectors of the ocean industry represented in this

assessment believe that the pilot demonstration concept is a

useful means of testing new technologies and research results

for operational viability. Paper studies were viewed as

generally worthless.

3) All sectors of the ocean industry would willingly participate

with NOAA in the conduct of appropriate (to their industry

sector) demonstration prospects.

4) A few of the commercial users would be willing tc invest some

resources, on a shared basis with NOAA, to conduct a pilot

demonstration. These users are primarily in the off—shore

oil and gas industry and would be more inclined to share

resources—in—kind than to invest finances.

5) Most commercial users were reluctant to invest dollars in

such demonstrations because the return on that investment was

viewed as being too long (greater than one to two years).

6) As a condition of participation, many commercial users and

most users in the Value—Added sector would attempt to secure

a period of exclusive use of the results, new technology, or

unique technique to improve their competitive position within

the marketplace. These users also recognize the barriers to

such an agreement in those cases in which NOAA would

contribute all the resources to the demonstration.

As a part of this assessment, selected commercial users were also

invited to suggest pilot demonstrations that NOAA might sponsor

today that could potentially serve private—sector needs and

interests. Candidates that could be managed and conducted by the

Seattle—Ocean Service Center are:

7_3
Jr'^r.^..

may,

1) The use of satellite-passive microwave radiometry In

operational sea ice reconnaissance.

2) The collection of environmental observations from off-shore

platforms by satellite methods.

3) The use of radio station WWD as a pilot NOAA facility for the

collection and distribution of environmental data for marine

users.

4) The near-real-,time processing and distribution of synthetic

aperture radar sea ice observations from the European ERS-1

satellite.

5) Continuation of the processing and distribution of data from

the Nimbus-7 coastal zone color scanner for commercial

fishing applications.

Each of these candidates is discussed in detail in the following

subsections.

7.2 The Use of Satellite Passive Microwave Radiometry In i

Operational Sea Ice Reconnaissance

Off-shore oil and gas operations and supporting marine

transportation activities in Arctic regions requires daily,

all-weather reconnaissance of sea ice conditions. Near-real time

processing of data is required to support the drill platform or

ship activities and to augment the navigational aids for routing

transiting vessels. Passive microwave radiometry, as

demonstrated from both aircraft and satellite platforms, can

provide an all-weather surveillance capability to observe the

distribution of sea ice and to differentiate between first-year

and multi-year ice types.

The Canadian Ice Central-Ottawa, with support from PhD.

associates in Toronto, Ontario, have refined the techniques and

algorithms for converting radiometer brightness temperatures to

sea ice parameters. This work has used observations from the

Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) on the Nimbus-7

7-4
a'

I,

satellite. Results of this work indicate that this technology is

( ready to test in a commercial setting. The off-shore oil

industry is ready to participate in such a test, and private

forecasters in the Value-Added industry have indicated a

willingness to support such a demonstration.

The U.S. Air Force plans to place a new passive microwave sensor

on board the DMSP satellite scheduled to be launched in 1985.

The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) will permit

ice-imaging spatial resolutions on the order of a few kilometers.

The time is right to conduct a demonstration to test the use of

this sensor in a commercial application.

i

It has been proposed that a demonstration be conducted in

partnership with Canada and under the direction of the

I

Seattle-Regional Ocean Service Center, in cooperation with the

Joint Ice Center and selected firms of both the oil and gas

industry and the private forecasting community. The proposed

test area would be within the Bering or the Beaufort Seas,

selected on the basis of the commercial participants interests

and activities. The proposed demonstration would be designed to

use the Nimbus-7 SMMR initially and in transition to use the

SSM/I. Present operational networks and processing capabilities

of the Navy Fleet Numerical Oceanography Center (FNOC) and Ice

Central-Ottawa are sufficient to process and distribute near-real

I time ice products to support the proposed demonstration.

This proposed demonstration will promote the transfer of

ice-oriented radiometer observational technology to the private

sector; give the Seattle-ROSC visibility to, and contact with,

U.S, industries conducting operations in the Arctic; and enhance

the cooperative relationship between the U.S. and Canada in

operational ice support services.

7.3 The Collection of Environmental Observations from Off-Shore

Platforms by Satellite Methods

l

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7-S

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The ability to improve the skill of marine weather forecasts is

directly tied to the increased capability to collect and

assimilate environmental observations in ocean regions.

Observations are critically lacking in frontier regions,

including the Arctic. Improved forecast skill in the frontier i

areas will permit off—shore operations to increase operational

efficiencies by reducing operating down—time, improve scheduling

of platform operations, and make optimum use of workboat and

helicopter capabilities. j

An increasing number of off—shore platforms are being located in

frontier regions where environmental observations are sparse or

non—existent. The Department of Interior Notice 775 requires

that oil and gas off—shore platforms contain instrumentation for

obtainin; environmental observations, particularly those related

to ocean conditions. These instrumented platforms should be

sources of weather observations for use in synoptic marine

weather forecasts. In the Gulf of Mexico, some platforms provide

'I

regular observations, some of which are made available to the

National Weather Service (NWS); others are being provided to

private forecasters exclusively. A uniform, regular, and

reliable means of collecting observations from off—shore

platforms is needed to aid marine weather forecasting processes.

Many oil and gas industry firms are willing to participate with

NOAA in conducting a demonstration to use the ARGOS data

collection system on the NOAA—series satellites to collect and

relay environmental observations to the NWS from Arctic regions,

A satellite—oriented system provides for an automatic collection I

operation on each platform. All data are routed to single

collection points for assimulation into the analysis process. A

limited test, using the experimental SEAS system on at—sea

vessels, has also been demonstrated by the NWS. A demonstration

on platforms and islands located in the Alaska region would be a

beneficial extension of the previous SEAS experiments. The oil

industry is prepared to support such a demonstration — an Alaskan t6 M1^

7-6

`
experiment could be conducted by the Seattle-ROSC, and benefit to

Arctic marine weather forecasts would be real. This observation

collection scheme is essential now, and will remain viable to

augment satellite-derived observations from the Navy N-ROSS and

the European ERS-1 systems.

7.4 The Use Of Radio-Station WWD as a Pilot NOAA Facility for

4

the Collection and Distribution of Environmental Data for

Marine Users

Radio station WWD, more formally known as the Chester W. Nimitz

Marine Facility, is owned and operated by the Scripps Institute

of Oceanography under an FCC license held by the NOAA-National

Marine Fisheries Service. This radio broadcast facility has

historically handled communications traffic for a broad range of

marine activities, from commercial fishing operations, to

research vessel cruises, to deep sea drilling programs. The

facility continually handles voice, teletype, code and facsimile

traffic. It is operated by highly skilled and versatile

personnel who can accommodate user needs ranging from routine,

operational activities to experimental programs requiring

flexibility and non-standard procedures.

This marine facility is funded from several sources, including

NOAA-NWS, NASA, and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

NOAA-NOS, in support of increasing the collection of

environmental observations and broadening the dissemination of

its marine products and services to vessels at sea, could benefit

from the increased use of station WWD.

.vr

an experimental demonstration, it has been proposed by the

imercial fishing industry that station WWD undertake operations

.lored to support the Seattle-ROSC. In this initial support

.e, the WWD facility could provide service to the Seattle-ROSC

four areas.

7-7
1) Routine collection of environmental observations from

commercial fishing vessels operating in the Eastern Pacific

from the equator to the Canadian border. Collected

observations would be forwarded to the Seattle ROSC for

incorporation into the NMC models.

2) Disseminate experimental marine weather and ooeanographi:

products to vessels at sea. The ocean color structure chart

derived from the CZCS on the Nimbus-7 satellite is an example

of such an experimental product. Experimental products and

services disseminated through WWD could be in support of a

technology demonstration activity or serve as an evaluation

of a new environmental product under test by NWS or NOS.

3) Distribution of marine weather and oceanographic products

prepared by private weather forecasting and ship routing

firms in the Value-Added industry. This'use of the station

facilities would be arranged on a cost-reimbursable basis,

thus providing additional revenue for station operations.

Such an arrangement would provide a flexible broadcast

capability to the Value-Added industry to deliver products

and services to clients at sea. This would be particularly

useful for those clients whose resources preclude the

acquisition of large marine radio equipment needed to

communicate with commercial marine facilities. The use of

station WWD in this fashion would be a mechanism to

strengthen the ties of the Seattle-ROSC with elements of the

Value-Added industry, which currently is viewing the ROSC

concept with some concern..

4

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7-8
tv

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4) Provide an operational message traffic center capability to

NOAA for communications with NOAA vessels operating in

' Pacific regions. Current NOAH ship communications are routed

^r

from the originating NOAA shore facilities to NOAA ships by

J„ means o.f a complex collection of commercial and USCG radio

installations. Handling this message traffic through a

central facility will simplify message processing, which, in

turn, will expedite message traffic.

These four uses of the radio facilities of station WWD will

provide NOAA with an exclusive dissemination capability to at-sea

^• users in the Pacific regions. The station, with this capability,

can serve as a prototype facility to test the concept of a

national NOAA radio network for the dissemination of government

and private section marine products and services.

7,5 The Near-Real Time Processing and Distributions of ^Znthetic

Aperture Radar Sea Ice Observations from the ERS-1 Satellite

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data collected by the SEASAT

L. satellite has demonstrated conclusively that observations of sea

ice can yield all-weather measurements of ice concentration,

distribution, type, and ice dynamics on a spatial and temporal

scale of immeasurable value to Arctic off-shore operations,

The European Space Agency (ESA) has an approved program to launch

a SAR on the ERS-1 satellite in 1988, and both Canada and Japan

have viable SAR programs late in this decade from which t-he U.S.

can acquire sea ice observations by either cooperative or

cost-reimbursable arrangements. The U.S. has no plans to launch

a satellite-borne SAR at any future date. NASA has established a

US/ESA agreement to implement a SAR data collection and

processing capability in Alaska for producing SAR images of U.S.

Arctic regions. The NASA plan is focused on the scientific

community whose needs are for non-real time data. NOAA's users,

primarily operational users in the private sector, have a need

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for SAR data on a near-real time basis.

Elements of both the off-shore oil and gas industry and the

private weather forecasting community have proposed that NOAA, in

concert with both NASA and private industry, implement a j

near-real time SAR processing capability in Alaska to process and

distribute experimental sea ice observations from ERS-1 to

operational users. Under the auspices of a government/industry

demonstration program, SAR data would be delivered to

participating Value.-Added groups) and end users for

interpretation, refinement, and distribution to participating

off-shore operators for their use and evaluation.

The technology exists now to process ERS-1 type SAR data in j

near-real time and the cost for such. equipment is experiencing

significant reduction in cost. The time is right to develop and

execute a plan leading to the acquisition, installation, and

operation of a U.S, near-real time SAR processing capability in

Alaska.

As a "first-step", NOAA, with the Seattle-ROSC taking the lead

role, should establish an ad-hoc government/industry SAR ice

applications working group, whose principal objective would be to

implement a near-real time, ERS-1 compatible, SAR processing

capability in Alaska. A secondary objective of this group would

be to define a series of applications demonstrations in ice

operations which are complementary to the NASA, ERS-1 science i

program.

Z

This proposed demonstration and preceding facility development

program, will serve as the basis for creating a NOAA capability

to collect and process SAR ice observations, and will

revolutionize the ability of the Joint Ice Center to support U.S.

Arctic and Antarctic operations, including civil, military and

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private sector.

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7.6 Continuation of the Processing and Distribution of Data from

the Nimbus-7 Coastal Zone Color Scanner for Commercial

Fishing Applications

In 1980, NASA sponsored a three-year Fisheries Demonstration•

Program to assess the utility of the Nimbus-7 Coastal Zone Color

Scanner (CZCS) in commercial fishing operations along the U.S.

West Coast. During the three-year demonstration period, NOAA

teamed with NASA to provide the funds necessary to successfully

conclude the program. Commercial fishermen participating in the

program have found the CZCS products highly useful in

establishing fishing tactics, particularly in the Albacore Tuna

and Salmon fisheries. Fuel savings of up to thirty percent,

through reduced search times, have been realized by some

participating fishermen. Interest in CZCS products remains high

in the fishing industry, and West Coast fishermen desire

continued access to the data.

As a "next-step" in this technology-oriented program, industry r

users recommend that NOAA continue to fund the collection,

processing and distribution of CZCS ocean observations for the

West Coast fishing industry. The facilities of the Scripps

Institution of Oceanography would be responsible for the receipt

and processing of the CZCS data, and improved arrangements for

product distribution should be explored. Cognizance for the

program should be transferred from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

to the Seattle-ROSC. No further formal "evaluation" should be

undertaken, and the private sector should be encouraged to

undertake the marketing of a r 'Value-Added" CZCS product.

The CZCS sensor, while operating beyond its design lifetime,

f; remains a viable sensor capable of providing ocean color products

to the commercial fishing industry. Continued availability of ,

the CZCS products to the industry will strengthen its acceptance

to the benefit of all fishing industry users. A lead role by the

Seattle-ROSC will enhance its relationship with the commercial

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fishing industry and will provide a unique "experimental" product

in its suite of marine products and services to the user

community, 1

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