PREDICTION AND SURVEY 87 



3. Integrated shipboard expendable bathythermograph display system, 

 which provides instant, automatic retransmission of digital temperature 

 versus depth profiles to stations remote from the ship, as well as providing 

 on-site reading for immediate tactical use 



4. Automated shipboard forecasting system for use under the super- 

 vision of mobile ASWEPS teams aboard major Task Group flagships 



5. Near surface reference temperature device, which provides a measure 

 of water temperature immediately below the surface 



6. Airborne radiation thermometer, including digitization of the data 

 output which, measuring the sea surface temperature as a function of in- 

 frared radiation, enables an aircraft to amass data over a large area over a 

 short time 



7. Airborne wave height recorder, essentially an accurate radar al- 

 timeter to measure sea states 



8. Buoy temperature sensor cables 



9. Expendable bathythermographs for surface and airborne platforms. 

 The Deep Airborne Expendable Bathythermograph (DAXBT), with a 



digitized output, is a follow-on to the AN/SQS-36 expendable bathyther- 

 mograph, and will increase measurements of temperature versus depth from 

 1500 to 5000 ft depth. The Shipboard Expendable Bathythermograph 

 (SXBT) is currently replacing the mechanical BT which has been in use by 

 surface ships, essentially unchanged, since 1939, and is to be modified to be 

 adaptable to installation in hehcopters, and the Helicopter Expendable 

 Bathythermograph (HXBT), also to be provided with automatic digital 

 readout. Through automatic data links, the flagship ASWEPS team will 

 have at its disposal a complete profile of temperature-depth parameters in 

 the area of interest. 



Developments in the prediction of the marine environment are being 

 carried out by other Navy offices as well. Naval Air Systems Command, in 

 the interest of improving airborne ASW capabilities, actively coordinates 

 with the Oceanographer of the Navy in this field, and in developing tech- 

 niques for the rapid, accurate prediction of ranges to be obtained from air- 

 borne sonar systems. The feasibility of developing an expendable device to 

 measure propagation loss is being investigated. 



To increase the synoptic data which are essential to the effectiveness of 

 ASWEPS, a "Ships of Opportunity" program employs merchant vessels 

 not primarily engaged in oceanographic research and survey operations. 

 These vessels provide data in areas not covered in the normal course of 

 naval operations, as an adjunct to the system, and in the process of their 



