2JH 



INTRODUCTION 



One of the assigned missions of the U. S. Fleet Numerical Weather 

 Facility (MWF) at Monterey, California, is to prepare meteorological and 

 oceanographic analyses and forecasts in support of fleet and other operations 

 throughout the Navy. As the activity's title implies, these products are 

 prepared numerically using the latest high-speed electronic computers. The 

 approach used at PTIWF has been to apply a combination of dynamic theory and 

 empirical experience to problem solving by computer. In general, only 

 problems which have direct Wavy application and which show promise of opera- 

 tional usefulness within 1-year 's time are undertaken at FWWF. In this 

 sense, the developmental efforts at the facility should be called "applied" 

 rather than "basic research." 



While early e"fforts at Monterey were concentrated "on atmospheric 

 analysis and forecasting, emphasis has been shifting more and more in the 

 last 2 years to oceanographlc problems and, in particular, to sea-air 

 interactions . The atmosphere and the oceans are considered to be one 

 environment as far as naval operations are concerned. Each of the media 

 affects conditions in the other and their behavior should not, and cannot, 

 be treated independently. The development of improved environmental aiialyses 

 and forecasts on a synoptic basis demands that we account for, in a quantita- 

 tive manner, the energy exchanged between sea and the atmosphere. 



NAVY PROBLEM AREAS INVOLVING SEA- AIR INTERACTION 



While the entire problem of sea-air interaction involves the transport 

 of some property (momentum, heat, moisture, etc.) between the two media, the 

 principal effects now being studied at Monterey can be broken down into sub- 

 areas. One general class of programs involves the transfer of atmospheric 

 momentum to the sea (generation of sea, swell and surface currents), and the 

 other primarily deals with heat exchange at the air-sea interface. 



Heat exchange obviously works in both directions . Transfer to and 

 from the atmosphere must be included in atmospheric forecast models. The 

 relationships between synoptic scale heat exchange and weather now under 

 investigation at MWF will be covered by Dr. Laevastu (1965) later in this 

 conference. The exchanges which influence sea surface temperatures (and 

 consequently subsurface thermal structure) are of primary interest in 

 Ant i- Submarine Warfare (ASW) applications and will be covered in further 

 detail herein. 



Wind-driven waves (and swell) are important from several viewpoints. 

 They not only affect day-to-day operations but can be critical in underway 

 replenishment, launch and recovery from a carrier, optimum ship routing, 

 amphibious operations, etc. In /^SW problems they influence sea surface 

 temperature, layer depth and thermocline intensity through mechanical mixing. 



