Sensitivity of Satellite Altimetry Data Assimilation on a Naval Anti- Submarine Warfare Weapon System

摘要

The purpose of this thesis is to assess the benefit of assimilating satellite altimeter data into the Modular Ocean Data Assimilation System (MODAS) . To accomplish this, two different MODAS fields were used by the Weapon Acoustic Preset Program (WAPP) to determine suggested presets for a Mk 48 variant torpedo. The MODAS fields differ in that one uses altimeter data assimilated from three satellites while the other uses no altimeter data. The metric used to compare the two sets of outputs is the relative difference in acoustic coverage are generated by WAPP. Output presets are created for five different scenarios, two Anti-Surface Warfare scenarios and three Anti-Submarine Warfare scenarios, in each of three regions: the East China Sea, the Sea of Japan, and an area south of Japan that includes the Kuroshio current. Analysis of the output reveals that, in some situations, WAPP output is very sensitive to the inclusion of the altimeter data because of the resulting differences in the subsurface predictions. The change in weapon presets could be so much that the effectiveness of the weapon might be affected.