Naval Oceanographic Office - Leading Hydrography in the 90s and Beyond
Authors: Warrenfeltz Larry , Bernard Landry J. 
Published: October 2008

The Naval Oceanographic Office's (NAVOCEANO's) mission is to collect, process, and distribute products and data to the Department of Defense (DOD) and other national and international customers. In the past several years, NAVOCEANO has significantly increased capabilities to carry out this mission. First, the introduction of the Integrated Data Base Management System (IDBMS) in 1994 has provided management of over 150 years of irreplaceable ocean data. Second, when NAVOCEANO was designated one of four DOD Major Shared Resource Centers in 1995, a High Performance Computing Center was established. Third, the introduction of the T-AGS 60 PATHFINDER class multipurpose oceanographic survey ships in 1996 has allowed "one-stop shopping" in the coastal and deep waters of the world, on-board data processing, and highspeed data transmissions for rapid characterization of the marine environment. Independently, these three changes represent major milestones to support NAVOCEANO into the next century.

The variety of advanced tools and equipment gives the hydrographer a much greater data collection and end-product capability. This paper will discuss past methodologies and the much-improved present capabilities, survey systems, and resulting products. It will also highlight the innovative and advanced technological developments NAVOCEANO is planning to enable us to meet our future challenges.

Introduction

For 165 years, the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) has relied on new technologies to improve data collection, processing, and production capabilities. Today's new technologies allow a quantum leap in improving capabilities in all three areas. Described here are the most significant technological changes being implemented at NAVOCEANO today and in the near future and how they help us to provide the best data, best products, and best services to our customer - the Fleet.

Background

A key ingredient to the success of a warfighter's mission is the availability of timely, accurate meteorological and oceanographic (METOC) data or products. This is more true than ever in the highly variable shallow water in which today's Navy operates where climatology just will not do. We are challenged by the technological demands of sophisticated weapons systems and new operating areas that stress the capabilities of our existing systems. We have met these challenges by creative use of information technology. NAVOCEANO's mission includes collection and processing of METOC data, and the creation of tailored products to support the warfighter's mission. In today's world, the warfighter needs higher resolution data of the best quality - a lot more of it than in the past - as near real-time as possible. The old technologies - data collection at sea, lengthy transit to a shore analysis site, followed by long analysis and finally resulting in hardcopy reports delivered by mail - can no longer meet today's needs. We must embrace new technologies that allow us to collect high-resolution digital data, quality control it during or immediately after collection, compress the analysis time, and create new and different products for digital transmission to warfighters and the METOC centers that support them [1].