634 



If. despite searching for compromises to release subsets of data, 

 or derived products, the most important data still cannot be 

 released in unclassified form, some value can yet be obtained 

 by providing classified data access by cleared environmental 

 scientists. Using these data, scientists might then conduct 

 experiments from which scientific insights and products could 

 be derived that shed light on key environmental processes. 

 These experiments would serve to clarify the unique 

 complementary contribution that these data can make to 

 environmental science and to influence the strategy governing 

 the creation of long-term archives. 



E. STUDY APPROACH 



1. OCEM SCIENCE CONTEXT 



For most missions, civilian and military alike, and for scientific 

 research, the processes of obserxing and monitoring the oceans 

 involve phenomena having two characteristics in common. 

 First, the interesting problems usually involve large areas and 

 long time periods. Second, many of the phenomena are often 

 difficult to obaene with remote sensing (i.e.. space-based) 

 systems because of the lack of consistently detectable or 

 "good" observables. Many of the ocean phenomena of interest 

 to both civilian and military communities can be measured only 

 with in situ sensors because of the need to sample at depth (e.g.. 

 salinity and temperature profiles, waterquahty, and bathymetry). 

 As a result of the necessary reliance on in situ sensors for many 

 types of measurement, and the necessary use of ships and 

 aircraft, the costs of ocean measurement programs, to say 

 nothing of a well-sampled global data set, are very high and 

 increasingly unaffordable. 



As a result, oceanography and marine geophysics have always 

 been data-starved disciphnes, primarily becau.se of the difficulty 

 and expense of making measurements having the requisite 

 spatial granularity o-. er large ocean areas and for long penods 

 of time sufficient to detect the important trends. This difficulty 

 in dealing with the spatial and temporal granularity of the ocean 

 processes over vast areas is one which frequently leads to either 

 undersampling or to the high costs of well-sarnpled, ship-based 

 .71 situ measurement programs. To the extent that the relevant 

 phenomena have observables amenable to space-based 

 observation this situation has improved dramatically in the last 

 two decades. A few of many examples include large-scale sea 



surface temperature, the long wavelength gravity field, and 

 soon with the ScaWiFS satellite, ocean color (related to 

 phytoplankton densities). 



We can expect that much of unique value that might be offered 

 to scientific research by naval ocean databases and modeUng 

 capabilities would anse because of their unusual spatial and/or 

 temporal coverage relative to their civilian counterparts. We 

 will see that while the classified world has generally the same 

 sensor types as the civilian, the global coverage and, in some 

 cases, the extended time periods over which classified data 

 were taken are their unique distinguishing characteristics. 



2. PROCESS 



This study was conducted by a group of 1 1 MEDEA scientists 

 drawn from the oceans, polar ice, geology and geophysics, and 

 atmospheric sciences, augmented by technical and 

 administrative support. Several organizations in the U.S. 

 government, including the Central Intelligence Agency and the 

 Navy, have had the opportunity to re\ lew drafts of this report 

 and comment on its technical accuracy, thereby improving the 

 result. However, the judgments reflected in the findings 

 reported here solely reflect the thinking and opinions of the 

 MEDEA Navy Study Group. 



The NAVMETOCCOM was instrumental in ensiinng that the 

 study group was briefed on all of the relevant databases, 

 capabilities, and products and. moreover, provided most of 

 the figures included in this repon. These bnefings offered a 

 comprehensive and insightful window into naval meteorology 

 and oceanography. The study group benefited from detailed 

 meetings with NAVOCEANO, NIC, and FNMOC. along with 

 extensive discussions with the Commander and staff of Naval 

 Meteorology and Oceanography Comm:md, and interactions 

 with the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy. In addition, 

 we met with representatives of the Arctic Submarine Laboratory 

 and the Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of 

 Washington. The full and enthusiastic cooperation of all of 

 these organizations with this study was instrumental to any 

 success that may be achieved and is greatly appreciated. 



