44 
value-added industry, some elements of the off- 
shore oil and gas industry, and the Navy who 
would use a central-processing facility to prepro- 
cess global data prior to distribution. 
The market comprising the commercial mari- 
time fleet, for the most part, can be captured only 
if the data can be acquired daily in near real time, 
the price of the receiving equipment is modest, 
and its size relatively small. This implies direct re- 
ception by a nondirectional antenna. However, 
the value of such data to these users is great 
enough to justify a monthly subscription fee of 
$1000 to $2000. If all of these conditions cannot 
be met, there will be much less interest in the data 
on the part of these users. 
Regarding reception by naval ships, the po- 
tential exists for SeaWiFS data to be received by 
existing naval systems that are capable of han- 
dling environmental data from satellites. Although 
these systems are not designed to handle Sea- 
WiFS-type data or products derived from this sen- 
sor, it is important to consider that these systems 
represent a naval asset that can and will utilize 
SeaWiFS data, if the Navy's requirements for 
ocean-color and sea-surface data can be satis- 
fied. 
The attractiveness of SeaWiFS data to the 
Navy will be judged partially on the degree of 
compatibility in reception and data format with 
their existing systems. In this context, the Tactical 
Environmental Support System (TESS) is a major 
Navy system that might be a candidate for pro- 
cessing SeaWiFS data. The system's specifica- 
tions have been documented by the Space and 
Naval Warfare Systems Command (1986). Also, 
by 1990 the Navy will have installed meteorologi- 
cal data receiver-recorder sets (AN/SMQ-11) on 
ships and at regional sites. For naval use, it is im- 
portant for the SeaWiFS data to be available in a 
real-time direct-readout mode as well as being re- 
ceivable (compatible frequency and format) by 
the AN/SMQ-11. 
The second user group requires a stored- 
data downlink, since members of this group serve 
customers whose platforms are located through- 
out the world or implement operational applica- 
tions whose regions of interest are worldwide. 
For most of these potential users it will be logisti- 
cally and economically infeasible to establish and 
maintain receiving facilities at one or more loca- 
tions. Hence, direct access to the data base in a 
central facility is needed. These users also re- 
quire daily data acquisition and access to the 
data within 24 hours of its collection. 
The need for data in near real time, docu- 
mented in Table 4, is perhaps the most stringent 
commercial- and operational-user requirement. 
Since most users will be unable to supply their 
own satellite receiving station, central ground 
stations for users to access data is desired. User 
access to sequentially stored local area cover- 
age (LAC) and global area coverage (GAC) data 
(i.e., last 48 hours of data) for review is useful in 
some applications, including forecasting models.° 
A real-time browse capability with the ability to 
capture some of the data is also needed. 
Although digital and analog imagery are po- 
tential real- or near-real-time SeaWiFS data prod- 
ucts, the commercial and operational user is most 
interested in receiving full-resolution, 10-bit, digi- 
tal data, including ephemeris and calibration data. 
Data products in a digital format will permit the 
user to preprocess the data, correcting for atmo- 
spheric effects, prior to use. It appears there is 
very little demand for lesser quality analog data 
products. 
6 For the SeaWiFS, LAC data will be at a spatial resolution of 
1.13 km, GAC data will be at a spatial resolution of 4.5 km. 
