Applications from GODAE to Navies throughout the World

摘要

The Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) has brought researchers together throughout the globe to address the problem of predicting the ocean environment. A significant step forward has occurred through these efforts, and there exists today operational application of these technologies in areas where historically a strong need has existed alongside the relative lack of mature technical development. GODAE has addressed the necessary technological development for data assimilation, which is a critical choke point within the process of providing meaningful information to many people encompassing a wide range of applications. One of these application areas is for Navies throughout the globe. Major use by operational Navies of oceanographic information through numerical model forecasts initialized by analysis of global satellite and in situ data sets has allowed substantial advancement in the safety of operations and search and rescue. The importance of the information relayed to ships across the globe is reflected in the dedication of large resources to daily production and dissemination. Not including the costs of observational systems, there are large investments associated with personnel required to ensure that each step of the processing is properly conducted every day. The communications and computational hardware requirements to ensure products are delivered require enormous effort and costs to implement. The importance of the information on which decisions are made daily by the world's Navies throughout the world's oceans is reflected by the commitment of these substantial resources to ensure the GODAE technology enables a new level of capability. Four areas of GODAE model state forecast application are examined in this paper: velocity information, ocean thermal and salinity structure forecasts, acoustic propagation, and nearshore prediction applications.