Synoptic data collection and products at the Naval Oceanographic Office

When the U.S. Navy started collecting oceanographic data in the early 1800s, it was most concerned with deep water, harbors, and their approaches. Usually data were collected by hand or other primitive methods until better methods were developed. After the ship or boats came back to shore, these data were taken back to labs, where they were processed and analyzed. This often meant waiting days, weeks, or months for results. Once satellite remote sensing became available for collecting data, almost instant analysis of environmental conditions became a possibility. Automated processing routines have further ensured that data collected in a remote area, transferred to the processing area, and posted to operational centers are available for analysis of the environment and for input into models in a relatively short time. As the Navy focus has shifted more toward the littoral zone, this availability of data has become crucial for the warfighter. The Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) currently collects data from a variety of sensors. Satellite imagery is used to determine sea height, sea surface temperature, ocean currents and upwelling, water masses in the sea, frontal boundaries that separate the water masses, and the swirling eddies that spiral from them. Satellite imagery also provides optical data that are used to derive products employed by the warfighter and that can be used as comparison and validation with other sensor data and model output. In addition to satellite imagery, NAVOCEANO receives about 16,000 unique observations daily from buoys, profiling floats, ships, and planes in support of Navy requirements and in coordination with the International Cooperative (Data Buoy Cooperation Panel and its subgroups). Although only a small fraction of the total area of the water-covered parts of the Earth falls into the littoral zone category, it is an important fraction. Remote sensing is the only tool that provides the U.S. Navy a synoptic view of inaccessible marine environments.