Search

Our long-term goal is to develop a modeling framework to predict sediment transport, the evolution of seafloor roughness, and acoustic propagation through the seafloor in the nearshore and littoral battlespace environment., FY10 Annual Reports of S & T efforts sponsored by the Ocean Battlespace Sensing S & T Department of the Office of Naval Research. The original document contains color images.

The MIL-STD-2411-1 Change 3 notice proposes to implement 95 new data codes to the existing set of data codes as part of the military standard to support production of Raster Product Format (MIL-STD-2411) compliant data such as Compressed ARC Digitized Raster Graphics (CADRG) and Controlled Image Base (CIB). Most standard CADRG and CIB produced by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) are referenced by a unique two character data code as listed in section 5.1.4 of MIL-STD-2411-1. These data codes reference the chart series and / or scale of the CADRG or CIB that is produced. NAVAIR programs that utilize any RPF complaint map data products must be aware and plan accordingly for the proposed data code changes to MIL-STD-2411-1. At a minimum, any system documentation referencing MIL-STD-2411-1 will need to be modified to reference the newer standard once approved., The original document contains color images.

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) was tasked by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on behalf of the Canadian Forces (CF) to develop a dynamic link library that would convert geotiff source files containing mission planning overlays into Compressed Arc Digitized Raster Graphics (CADRG) equivalent files. This dynamic link library will be integrated as part of the Tactical Aircraft Moving Map Unique Planning Component (TUPC) onto the Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS). In 2003, NRL developed the Moving-Map Composer-Personal Computer (MMCPC) software system to support Finnish Air Force mission planning efforts. One MMCPC function, unique to this system, converted source geotiff Finnish map files into CADRG compatible files for display in TAMMAC. Software applicable to this function from MMCPC will be used to support the core functions of this new capability for the CF., The original document contains color images.

We developed a realistic test case for morphodynamic predictions of short-term bathymetry evolution associated with quasisteady rip currents. Assuming stationary forcing, predictions made by the coupled wave-hydrodynamic-morphodynamic model Delft3D are compared with surf zone morphological change inferred from quarterly in-situ bathymetric surveys. The model gives plausible twodimensional hydrodynamic predictions with offshore currents being strongest in the rip channels. When the default wave-induced bedload transport is included the model predicts accretion on the bar similar to the observations but the predicted sandbar amplitude grows unrealistically. Both with and without wave-induced transport, the model underestimates the erosion in the rip channels., See also ADM202806. Proceedings of the Oceans 2009 MTS/IEEE Conference held in Biloxi, Mississippi on 26-29 October 2009. Copyright belongs to the Marine Technology Society., The original document contains color images.

We observed anisotropy in the acoustic reflection amplitudes from the seafloor at Hydrate Ridge on the Oregon Margin. We analyzed acoustic data from several OBS receivers and several sound-source lines with one line being perpendicular to the others. We used time windows to isolate the acoustic data that contained the most information regarding the seafloor reflectivity. The bottom loss is directly related to these observed reflection strengths with some restrictions. The observed higher reflection strengths for the east-west line (perpendicular to bathymetric contours) than to reflection strengths on the north-south lines is unexpected and so far unexplained. We expect that the primary causes of variations in the reflectivity are due to scattering and from heterogeneity., See also ADM202806. Proceedings of the Oceans 2009 MTS/IEEE Conference held in Biloxi, Mississippi on 26-29 October 2009. Copyright belongs to the Marine Technology Society., The original document contains color images.

The highly skilled, but leaner crews of today's Navy are tasked with compiling ever-increasing amounts of environmental knowledge. The mine hunter's arsenal bristles with data-gathering equipment: side-scan sonar, unmanned underwater vehicles, and meteorological sensors. Compounded with the work required to deploy, retrieve, and maintain this equipment, downloaded data from these platforms can easily overwhelm operators, and post-mission analysis may fall behind. Navy scientists at NRL develop data processing tools and algorithms to enable the warfighter to do more work in fewer steps, but there is a need for seamless data processing integration "to ensure data are visible, available, and usable, when needed and where needed, to accelerate decision-making." NRL's Environmental Post-Mission Analysis (EPMA) system addresses this need with a powerful, cross-platform data analysis system that manages the compilation and integration of environmental data. EPMA is being developed for the mine warfare community, but will also have broader data analysis applicability. The system ingests and processes field data and formats it into products that can be used in analysis tools and prediction models to allow informed and timely decision-making., Published in NRL Review, p208-209, 2009.

The Navy and other Department of Defense activities collect and archive large amounts of imagery of the Earth's seafloor and terrestrial surfaces for distribution to users in the tactical, intelligence, or scientific communities. This imagery is high resolution and collections can be quite large; the compressed 1 meter per pixel imagery of the U.S. is approximately 3 terabytes. Storing the high-resolution imagery as flat files on a hard drive or in a database is problematic because the system must perform time-consuming loading, decoding, and post-processing of large numbers of images for every request by a user. The tile archival and distribution system developed by the Naval Research Laboratory's Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy Branch of its Marine Geosciences Division solves these problems and provides a sophisticated and comprehensive method of imagery management., Published in NRL Review, p171-172, 2009.

Few environmental regions are as dynamic as the littoral, where dramatic changes in winds, waves, and bathymetry can occur over timescales as short as a few hours. A long-term goal for the Littoral Dynamics Team within the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is to extract littoral meteorological and oceanographic (METOC) conditions from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) imagery collected by either space or airborne platforms in near real time. Our most recent efforts have focused on developing capability to provide actionable battlespace awareness for amphibious operations through the analysis of motion imagery from Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS). These systems are relatively inexpensive and are widely used within the Department of Defense., NRL Review, p206-207, 2009.

Our long-term goal is to develop a modeling framework to predict sediment transport, the evolution of seafloor roughness, and acoustic propagation through the seafloor in the near shore and littoral battlespace environment. The primary objective of this project is to implement a massively parallel version of an existing mixture model, SedMix3D, for simulating small-scale ripple dynamics in shallow littoral environments. The applicability of the existing serial version of SedMix3D is severely hampered by the physical limitations (memory and CPU speed) of typical desktop workstations. The scalable version of SedMix3D developed here will be able to simulate prototype size domains found in the center of a laboratory U-tube (up to 1 m in length). The parallel version of SedMix3D is a powerful research tool that will be used to study the details of small-scale sand ripple dynamics, including the following: (1) the effects of suspended sediment concentration on turbulence modulation, (2) the dynamics of ripple transitions from 2D to 3D (and back to 2D) under changing forcing conditions, and (3) the role of terminations and bifurcations on ripple migration and growth rates. SedMix3D treats the fluid-sediment mixture as a single continuum with effective properties that parameterize the fluid-sediment and sediment-sediment interactions using several closures for the sediment phase. The capability of SedMix3D to simulate small-scale sand ripple dynamics has been illustrated both qualitatively and quantitatively. The research tool developed here will be used to improve understanding of bedform dynamics, and more generally, bottom boundary layer physics in shallow sandy environments.

This report documents the NRL Deterministic Mine Burial Prediction System; the software, which runs in MATLAB, is an attachment to this report. The purpose of the system is to provide a user-friendly software for operating newer, deterministic, mine burial prediction models for impact and scour burial that are products of a combined six-year program between ONR and NRL. This report presents an overview of the software, documents input data and computer platform requirements, and provides a user's guide with walkthroughs of example cases. A presentation of results and analysis from exercising the system to simulate impact and scour burial experiments using operational or operational-like inputs follow. Based on nonparametric hypothesis testing of simulation results with empirical data, the statistics generated from simulations of impact burial appear to provide useful predictions and uncertainty estimates when the simulations account for geotechnical variations. For scour burial, the use of the Simulating Waves Nearshore or WaveWatch-III model to drive the scour module qualitatively followed empirical burial trends, with variations in wave height prediction appearing to be a more significant factor in determining the accuracy of the scour burial prediction than uncertainty in grain size. Overall, the tests provide encouragement for the use of new mine burial prediction models to provide reasonable predictions of burial from operational input data., The original document contains color images.

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate laboratory for the United States Navy. Part of the mission of NRL is to provide "broadly based applied research and advanced technology development programs in response to identified and anticipated Navy and Marine Corps needs." Advancing the state-of-the-art in scientific computation is important in both applied research and technology development. In this article, we relate current computational trends in naval technologies as well as the trends we anticipate over the next few years. We also present solutions for some of the current and coming challenges we face. Naval operations can benefit greatly from a highly accurate and timely knowledge of the environment. To better utilize large quantities of environmental data, the Navy is moving towards sea-based computing, which allows decisions to be made in real-time at sea. Also, Through-the-Sensor technology is being developed for existing/future fleet combat sensors to be used in tactical decision aids. These advances will help the U.S. Navy maintain sea supremacy in today's fast-paced warfighting environment., Published at http://www.scientificcomputing.com

This report reviews current fusion techniques used for bathymetry or other geospatial data, as motivated by the Naval Oceanographic Office's (NAVOCEANO) need for intelligent fustion -- combining two or more data sets in a manner that accounts for data uncertainty -- of gridded and in situ bathymetric data sets. Based on this review, the recommended approach for building new bathymetry fusion algorithms uses loss interpolation to obtain a trend surface followed by kriging of residuals to recapture finer details lost from smoothing. In addition, if in situ soundings are used, Monte Carlo simulations are run to estimate depth error induced by position errors. The technique also provides the means to liberally estimate errors for navigation safety. The report concludes with plans to build, validate, and transition the algorithm to the Naval Oceanographic Office, Bathymetry Database Division., The original document contains color images.

An enhanced interactive variant to the parallel coordinates visualization technique is presented. An example of its capabilities is demonstrated on a hurricane climate dataset. Its capabilities include focus+context filtering, dynamic visual queries with sliders, statistical displays, relocatable axes, axis inversion, details-on-demand, a pop-up menu interface, and aerial perspective shading. Furthermore, parallel coordinates can visually depict the same correlations that weather scientists find meaningful. It is demonstrated that these interactive parallel coordinates enhancements provide a deeper understanding when used in conjunction with traditional multiple regression analysis., The original document contains color images.

The integration of automated statistical analysis capabilities with a highly interactive, multivariate visualization interface is presented in this paper. Innovative visual interaction techniques such as dynamic axis scaling, conjunctive parallel coordinates, statistical indicators, and aerial perspective shading are exploited to enhance the utility of classical parallel coordinate plots. Moreover, the system facilitates statistical processes such as stepwise regression and correlation analysis to assist in the identification and quantification of the most significant predictors for a particular dependent variable. These capabilities are combined into a unique visualization system that is demonstrated via a North Atlantic hurricane climate study using a systematic workflow. This research corroborates the notion that enhanced parallel coordinates coupled with statistical analysis can be used for more effective knowledge discovery and confirmation in complex, real-world data sets., The original document contains color images.

Burial of instrumented mine-like cylinders as a result of wave-induced scour was measured during experiments conducted in shallow water (15-16 m) with fine-sand (133-um) and coarse-sand (566-um) sediments off Indian Rocks Beach (IRB), FL. Scour pits developed around the instrumented cylinders in the fine-sand site when significant wave heights exceeded 2 m, causing the cylinders to pitch, then roll into the developing scour pits, often changing heading to align parallel with the wave crest. Final cylinder burial was nearly 40 cm (about 70%-80% mine diameter) relative to the sediment-water interface, but only 20%-50% relative to surface area covered. The difference was caused by the lack of complete infilling of scour pits. Little development of scour pits and burial was noted on the coarse-sand site and the cylinders buried to only 20% -40% of the cylinder diameter below the sediment surface. Burial results, although variable, are in general agreement with the wave-induced scour model developed by Trembanis et al. (2007) for the fine sand, but not for the coarse sand where measured burial was much less than predicted., The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white. Published in the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering v32 n1 p91-102, Jan 2007.

The Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) requires accurate estimates of seafloor roughness (bottom relief) and the density of seafloor clutter (mine-like echoes), typically derived from sidescan sonar imagery (SSI), to determine the bottom type of a geographic area for mine warfare. Determining clutter and roughness manually can be time-consuming and produce inconsistent results. Automated algorithms can derive clutter and roughness from SSI in a consistent and timely manner. Features such as pockmarks, sand ripples, and rocks on the seafloor are visible in SSI as bright spots ("brights") with adjacent shadows. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) developed a real-time clutter detection algorithm (transitioned to NAVOCEANO in 2001) that quickly and reliably identifies clutter in SSI and clusters the results into polygons. An object's height (estimated from the length of its shadow) is one measurement used to determine whether the object is mine-like. The authors theorized that height also could be used to automatically estimate seafloor roughness. NRL has developed a new automated roughness estimation algorithm, based on the clutter detection algorithm, to automatically derive seafloor roughness from SSI. In repeated trials, polygons generated by the new roughness algorithm correlated well (as high as 87%) with manually generated polygons for the same region. This article presents the NRL automated roughness algorithm (transitioned to NAVOCEANO in 2006), including test results and comparisons with manual methods.

This report documents an investigation into the use of range and range rate as an approach for navigating an underwater vessel relative to another vessel for formation maneuvering tasks. Range and range rate between underwater vehicles can be estimated using elapsed time and Doppler shift measurements done by modern acoustic modems. This approach has the potential to allow coordinated team maneuvering using existing vehicle communications without the need for offboard positioning systems, surfacing for GPS fixes, and communicating individual vessel positions periodically throughout the team. The relationship between range rate and Doppler shift is derived and field results from a submarine tracking range are presented to support the hypothesis that this can be an effective measure of relative motion. Equations for range, range rate, and range acceleration are derived and these equations are examined numerically and graphically to determine characteristics that might be useful for relative navigation. The report ends with a summary of potential approaches revealed for using range and range rate measurements for relative navigation., The original document contains color images.

This document provides detailed Acceptance Test Procedures (ATP) to be followed during the final test and evaluation of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Moving Map Composer - Personal Computer (MMCPC) System, Version 1.0, developed for the Finnish Air Force (FiAF). The ATP was successfully completed by NRL and FiAF representatives at FiAF headquarters in Halli, Finland, in August 2005., The original document contains color images.

Shallow water (littoral) regions present unique challenges for Naval operations. Warfighter support in the littoral region is hampered by our inability to relate tide and ocean circulation models directly to nautical charts via an absolute vertical datum. Various water measurements of critical importance to the Navy (such as tide gauges, ocean bottom pressure/inverted echo sounders, satellite altimetry, and heights now easily measured by GPS) are made with respect to different vertical reference frames (tidal datums and ellipsoidal frames), and there is no mechanism for conversion from one frame to another. An accurate geoid can provide the vertical reference required to relate the various vertical reference frames. The geoid is the surface of equal gravitational potential that most closely approximates mean sea level (in a motionless ocean) located with respect to the ellipsoidal (GPS) reference frame. Historically, the gravity field had not been sufficiently determined to produce a geoid accurate enough to relate the reference frames. Since 2003, however, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite has revolutionized our ability to construct geoids by accurately resolving the long-wavelength component of the global gravity field to wavelengths as short as 350-400 km. NRL has been combining GRACE data with short-wavelength terrestrial, marine, and airborne gravity to create a geoid for the Gulf of Mexico accurate to 5 cm (as compared with tide gauge data located by GPS surveys). NRL's interest in accurate geoid determination dovetails closely with the mission of NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS): to maintain and evolve a National Spatial Reference System based on the most accurate geoid possible for North America. NRL has recently partnered with NGS to conduct high-altitude airborne surveys at critical locations along the Gulf Coast., Published in NRL Review, p1-2, 2006.

Often it is necessary to transform a georeferenced raster image from one projection to another. This report describes an efficient method for performing Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) to Geodetic projection transformations. The reprojected images are suitable for applications that require high accuracy and can be seamlessly combined with preexisting Geodetic data. The procedure can be abstracted to convert between any two projection types.

Sediment transport in nearshore wave bottom boundary layers drives coastal geomorphologic change and can result in bathymetric changes of more than a meter in as little as a few hours, particularly in the region where waves are breaking. Predicting the evolution of surf zone bathymetry is of significant importance, with economic, legal, engineering, scientific, and military implications. Most formulae for predicting sediment transport in surf zone subsume the smallest scale physics of the phenomena by parameterizing interactions between grains. In contrast, computer simulations can be performed to directly model the collective and individual motions of sediment grains immersed in fluid. This type of simulation, known as a Discrete Particle Model (DPM), is a cutting-edge research tool that is being used and further developed at NRL for studying nearshore sediment transport. In addition to sediment transport, such models, based on molecular dynamics, have a broad range of applications. For example, the DPM described here has been used to study objects impacting sediments and the formation of geologic faults. As well, similar models have been applied to traffic flow, schooling fish, crowd control, and other problems in which the particulate nature of the phenomena is of critical importance., Published in the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Review, p183-185, 2005.

The authors are developing an Automated Change Detection and Classification (ACDC) system for the Mine Warfare (MIW) group at the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO). ACDC detects features in sidescan imagery, classifies the features (e.g., as minelike or not), and searches through historical databases of previously detected features to perform change detection (i.e., to determine whether the feature is new or pre-existing, relative to earlier surveys). The completed ACDC system will assist mine countermeasures (MCM) warfighters to more quickly and reliably identify minelike contacts in sidescan, thereby reducing warfighter fatigue, reducing risk to the warfighter, and shortening timelines for completion of MCM objectives. ACDC consists of five major components: (1) clutter detection, (2) feature completion/ classification, (3) geospatial searching, (4) clustering, and (5) scene matching. Depending on the quality of sidescan imagery to be analyzed, each of these steps can be performed autonomously (i.e., with no human intervention) or as a computer-assisted function (in which ACDC suggests statistically likely outcomes to the operator, who makes a final determination).

The purpose of this report is to document the data sources used to construct maps and digital databases of bottom-sediment type for a portion of the continental shelf off the eastern United States and for Indonesian waters. The east coast mapping region extends from approximately 28 deg-30 min N (Cape Canaveral) to 35 deg-30 min N (Cape Hatteras). Mapping of the Indonesian waters includes the Banda, Ceram, Molucca, Halmahera, and Flores Seas (see the attached figures showing the approximate boundaries of the mapped areas)., Performed in collaboration with Omni Technologies, Inc., New Orleans, LA and University of New Orleans Department of Geography, New Orleans, LA.

The purpose of this report is to document the data sources that were used to construct maps and digital databases of bottom-sediment type for the Northern Arabian Sea, Celebes Sea, and Makassar Strait (see the attached figures showing the approximate boundaries of the mapped areas)., Performed in cooperation with Omni Technologies, Inc., New Orleans, LA and University of Southern Mississippi Department of Geology, Hattiesburg, MS.

Mine burial by scour was measured in real-time using two cylindrical instrumented mines connected to a shore-based facility at the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO). Data on mine movement (heading, pitch, and roll), scour pit geometry, percent burial, and environmental processes responsible for scour burial, including significant wave height, period, and tidal height were analyzed daily and presented on the NRL web site (http://www7430.nrlssc.navy.mil/bblp/mine/realtimedata). Scour pits developed in response to storm-generated wave heights of up to 2.5-meters that occurred within the first 5 days of the experiments. The two instrumented mines pitched (3 to 9 degrees), rolled (35 to 55 degrees), and reoriented to align axially (up to 40 degrees) with incoming swell as they rolled into scour pits. The mines were buried level with the seafloor after a second storm. Subsequent storms with wave heights up to 3.5-meters were unable to further bury the mines. A comparison of the observed mine burial and real-time predictions (http://www.vims.edu/physical/projects/CHSD/projects/MBP) using a modified Whitehouse-Soulsby, wave-induced scour model were nearly identical, suggesting mine burial by scour is predictable from bathymetry, sediment type, and measured or predicted surface wave conditions. (13 figures, 7 refs.), Presented at the International Symposium on Technology and the Mine Problem (6th). Prepared in collaboration with OMNI Technologies, Inc., New Orleans, LA, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, VA, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA. The original document contains color images.

This document provides detailed Acceptance Test Procedures (ATP) to be followed during the final test and evaluation of the FiAF (Finnish Air Force) Moving-Map Composer (MMC) System version 3.4P developed for the FiAF. This ATP is specifically designed to test the primary functions of the FiAF system that has been delivered and installed at FiAF Headquarters in Tikkokoski, Finland on April 24-25,2003. Please note that the delivered MMC system does not include the Digital Memory Unit (DMU) or its interface and those functions are not included as part of this ATP.

The effects of molecular weights (MA,MB) on the self-organized segregation of immiscible constituents (A,B) driven by pressure bias (H=0.0-1.0) generated by geologic processes are examined by an interacting lattice gas Monte Carlo simulation. Constituents (A,B), released from a source at the bottom according to their lattice concentrations, can escape the lattice from top or bottom. The longitudinal steady-state density profiles (A,B) depend on their molecular weight and bias with linear, exponential, and non-monotonic decays with the height., Published in Physica A, v345 p555-564, 2005.

A 64 day experiment to characterize mine burial by scour was conducted in the winter of 2003 in water depth of 13 meters off Indian Rocks Beach (IRB) near Tampa Bay, Florida. lnstrumented and non-instrumented mines were located on both coarse and fine sand sediments. In addition to monitoring the mine burial (16 mines) the experiment included, measurements of sediments properties and oceanographic conditions, and a comparison of model prediction to measure burial. Mine burial, relative to the water-sediment interface, by scour occurred during storm events (defined by significant wave heights greater than 2 - meters). Following the second storm event burial of the mines on fine sand sediment exceeded 50% (and to 100% in some cases) whereas the mines on coarse sand sediment had buried little to none. Mine burial predictions based upon a wave induced scour model were nearly identical to the measured mine burial.

At times it becomes desirable to estimate the depths of rivers using aerial photography or other remotely sensed imagery. Due to water turbidity in many of the cases, optical techniques using water color or laser bathymetry are not feasible. This preliminary study investigates the potential use of meander geometry based on empirical equations as a possible method for the estimation of river depths for natural alluvial streams and rivers., The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white. Work Unit Number 74-7441-B4.

Over the last decade there has been an increasing military interest in conditions and processes occurring in very shallow water and surf zone regions, typically less than 10 m depth. Interestingly, this region is extremely diverse and dynamic meaning that characterizations of environmental conditions necessary for successful expeditionary warfare operations may be limited to a particular location (on the order of lOOs of meters) or a relatively short time interval (on the order of hours to days). Given this complexity, an optimal solution for nowcasting littoral conditions using remote sensing has been developed that will provide a tactical, organic, reconnaissance capability in support of amphibious operations and mine countermeasures. This solution and its potential applications, known as the Littoral Environmental Nowcasting System (LENS), are described herein., The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.

This report describes several ways to generate a chirp signal for the Seamap-C side-scan sonar system and then to remove the chirp signal from the field data to produce high-resolution sea floor images. Synthetic data are generated using one of several chirps according to the system specifications, data collection methods, and preliminary processing of the Seamap-C system. These synthetic data files, as well as field data, are read by the deconvolution program, which removes the known source signal. Several chirp signals are compared to demonstrate the tradeoffs between resolution and noise levels., The original document contains color images.

Several experiments to measure the burial of seafloor mines by scour and fill have been conducted at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO). Two sets of mine scour burial experiments were conducted during the winters of 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 with a single optically instrumented mine in the field of view of a rotary sidescan sonar. Sixteen mines were deployed from October 2003 to April of 2004, along with several systems to image mine behavior and to characterize bedform and oceanographic processes. The sedimentary environment at MVCO consists of a series of rippled scour depressions, which are large-scale bedforms with alternating areas of coarse and fine sand. In fine sand the sonar imagery of the mines reveal that large scour pits form around the mines during energetic wave events. The mines fall into their own scour pits, aligning with the dominant wave crests and become level with the ambient seafloor after one or two wave events. Infilling of the scour pits appears to be a slower and more variable process and often takes several months before the scour pits infill. The coarse sand supports large wave orbital ripples with wavelengths of 50 cm to 150 cm and heights of 10 cm to 20 cm. In the coarse sand the mines were observed to bury until the exposed cross-section was approximately the same size as the large wave orbital ripples. (5 figures, 5 refs.), Presented at the International Symposium on Technology and the Mine Problem (6th) held at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, on 9-13 May 2004. Prepared in cooperation with the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA; the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, Austin, TX; the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH; and the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu. HI. The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will

Historical environmental data is very useful; however, it often suffers from incomplete coverage, low data density and perishability. Accurate near real-time environmental data is critical to the success of Mine Warfare operations as was demonstrated in Operation Iraqi Freedom in clearing the approach to the deep water port of Umm Qasr. Prior to the conflict information on seafloor bottom type, expected mine-case burial rates and water depth was inconsistent and dated. MCM ships had to proceed with extreme caution until the bottom types and bathymetry could be determined. Environmental data is needed to determine the right tactics, and minimize the time required to breech an area while maintaining a true sense of mine detection. Dynamic, near real-time, and historical data should be processed and merged onboard, and provided to tactical decision aids as the "best" environment to support Mine Countermeasures.

Sediment transport in oscillatory boundary layers is a driving mechanism of coastal geomorphologic change. Most formulae for bed-load transport in near-shore regions subsume the smallest-scale physics of the phenomena by parameterizing interactions between particles. In contrast, the authors directly simulate granular physics in the wave-bottom boundary layer using a discrete-element model consisting of a three-dimensional particle phase coupled to a one-dimensional fluid phase via Newton's Third Law through forces of buoyancy, drag, and added mass. The particulate sediment phase is modeled using discrete, non-spherical particles formed to approximate natural grains by overlapping two spheres. Both the size of each sphere and the degree of overlap can be varied for these composite particles to generate a range of non-spherical grains. Simulations of particles having a range of shapes showed that the critical angle - the angle at which a grain pile will fail when tilted slowly from rest - increases from approximately 26 degrees for spherical particles to nearly 39 degrees for highly non-spherical composite particles having a dumbbell shape. Simulations of oscillatory sheet flow were conducted using composite particles with an angle of repose of approximately 33 degrees and a Corey shape factor greater than about 0.8, similar to the properties of beach sand. The results from the sheet-flow simulations with composite particles agreed more closely with laboratory measurements than similar simulations conducted using spherical particles. The findings suggest that particle shape may be an important factor for determining bed-load flux, particularly for larger bed slopes. (5 figures, 18 refs.), Published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, p04TA2210-1 to 04TA2210-15, 2004.

The POS polyline smoothing algorithm was developed to reduce the needed storage and rendering complexity of polylines by the removal of vertices with two goals in mind. First was to define a single algorithm that would produce a "good enough" result with varying characteristics, which are user defined. The concept of "good enough" is built on the trade of time vs. precision, where the best result takes the longest time and the quickest maybe less than desirable form. The second goal was to incorporate surrounding data into the set of control factors. To accomplish this, the concept of Points of Significance (POS) was developed. POS can be a group of individual points, or the point that represents more complex shapes or regions. The complete Set of POS is divided into subsets by the polyline, and by maintaining these subsets the algorithm insures that the polyline maintains a proper relationship with the surrounding data. It is the use of POS that makes this algorithm so powerful. The smoothing is complete after a maximum number of successive passes are made through the polyline, or no additional removals can be made without violating the control factors.

This report documents the Moving Map Composer (MMC) software system developed by scientists in NRL Code 7440.1. This is the third edition of the MMC User's Manual (the first and second editions are NRL/FR/7441--97-9677 and NRL/FR/7440--00-9983, respectively) and reflects changes that were implemented for the version 3.4P release of MMC., The original document contains color images.

The future requires military operations and intelligence communities to more heavily rely on Internet-based solutions for the delivery of MetOc data and products to the warfighter in an automated manner. These issues are being addressed by TEDServices (TEDServices). TEDServices is being engineered by the Naval Research Laboratory, the Naval Oceanographic Office and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, with sponsorship from Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) PMW-150. TEDServices was successfully demonstrated during April 2004, in FBE-Kilo, and is in transition to the US Navy this fiscal year. This paper will describe how TEDServices has been engineered to provide solutions to issues routinely confronted by warfighters. These solutions include, but are not limited to, better bandwidth usage, automated data ordering, simplification of data management, automated data transformations, forward deployed data caching, simplified integration with legacy tactical decision aids and support for joint interoperability.

Environmental Cell (EC)- Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) is a powerful technique in which hydrated specimens (at tens of torr pressure) can be examined at high spatial resolution in more or less their natural state. Two methods have been used in environmental TEM instruments: closed-cell specimen holders (e.g., see Fig. 1) and open-cell differential column pumping. Several applications of closed-cell EC-TEM are discussed in which chemical and high-resolution structural information were obtained on hydrated, microbial alteration products. Also discussed is the profound application of closed-cell EC-TEM for the in-situ study of functioning biomolecules., Presented at the Microscopy and Microanalysis 2004 Conference, held in Savannah, GA on 1-5 Aug 2004. The original document contains color images.

Web services have been opening a wide avenue for software integration. In this paper, we have reported our experiments with three applications that are built by utilizing and providing web services for Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The services are designed to handle a large number of concurrent requests. It is clear that performance has to be the central consideration in design of GIS web services. The lessons learned from these experiments include the application of the rich metadata message approach, choosing large size of unstructured data but limiting the structured message's sizes, and minimizing COTS software customization.

An integrated, time-dependent, stochastic model for predicting mine burial in littoral waters is presented. The model is designed to account for impact burial of mines and coupled post-impact burial processes (scour, sand ridge migration, and liquefaction) by integrating currently available deterministic models that predict these burial processes. Operational Navy databases and oceanographic modeling output from the United States Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) are used to Set up the initial bathymetric and sediment conditions and provide the temporal driving burial forces. The model uses Monte Carlo simulations to provide stochastic burial predictions based on mine geometry and various deployment scenarios. Temporal changes in burial conditions may be displayed on a regional map., The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.

Temperature, pressure, and time have been thought to control the smectite-to-illite (S-I) reaction, an important diagenetic process used for petroleum exploration. We demonstrated that microorganisms can promote the S-I reaction by dissolving smectite through reduction of structural Fe(III) at room temperature and I atmosphere within 14 days This reaction typically requires conditions of 300 to 35O C, 100 megapascals, and 4 to 5 months in the absence of microbial activity. These results challenge the conventional concept of the S-I reaction and of reaction kinetic models., Pub. in Science, v303, p830-832, 6 Feb 2004.

Access and retrieval of meteorological and oceanographic data from heterogeneous sources in a distributed system presents many issues. Effective bandwidth utilization is important for any distributed system. In addition, specific issues need to be addressed in order to assimilate spatio-temporal data from multiple sources. These issues include resolution of differences in datum, map-projection and time coordinate. Reduction in the complexity of data formats is a significant factor for fostering interoperability. Simplification of training is important to promote usage of the distributed system. Here, we describe particular techniques that revolutionize the Web-based delivery of meteorological and oceanographic data to address the needs of the Naval/Marine user., The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.

Since the early 1980s, the authors have collected nearly 800 cores at 69 shallow-water sites around the world (12 calcareous and 57 siliciclastic sites). Siliciclastic sites ranged from soft mud through coarse sand and calcareous sites consisted of molluskan shells, shell hash, carbonate reef debris, and calcareous particles formed by chemical precipitation. The cores were carefully collected by divers from shallow water or sub-sampled from box core samples retrieved from deeper waters. For most sediment samples compressional wave speed and attenuation (at 400 kHz) were measured at 1 cm intervals and sediment physical properties (porosity, bulk density, grain density, and grain size distribution) were determined from 2- cm-thick sections from the same core. Data are typically restricted to the upper 30 cm of sediment. Based on the nearly 4500 common data points resulting from core measurements (3922 siliciclastic and 621 calcareous) regressions were determined among sediment physical and acoustic properties., Pres. at European Conference on Underwater Acoustics (7th) held in Delft, the Netherlands, on 5-8 Jul 2004.

Research results are typically reported using 2-dimensional (2D) methods that include tables, figures, and charts. With the availability of 3-dimensional (3D) visualization applications, based on the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) and Extensible 3D (X3D) graphics, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has employed alternative methods of information presentation. These 3D applications are displayed with viewer software on conventional Internet web-browsers and may be effectively used in oral presentations and for separate viewing on the Internet. This paper describes 3D applications that were developed to visualize Marine Corps Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV) navigation performances during field demonstrations and augment the 2D performance data. They depict steering patterns used to avoid surface waves, how well the drivers negotiate lane turning points, and a vehicle's vulnerability to mines and other dangers (e.g., subsurface rocks) when steered outside the cleared navigation lanes.

An electronic mapping system, installed on a vehicle, can provide an accurate and visual depiction of the operating environment to the vehicle operator. This enhanced situational awareness (SA) is useful in critical decision-making and operational safety. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has developed and tested a moving-map (MM) system based on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and government-off-the- shelf (GOTS) software for amphibious assault vehicles. The MM system consists of a computer, display -and software depicting the position of the vehicle, obtained via the Global Position System (GPS), as an icon overlaid on a geo-registered map. This configuration can be run in either north-up or track-up mode. In north-up mode, the map is always displayed with north at the top of the display, and the icon moves as the position of the vehicle changes. In track-up mode, the map moves as the direction of travel changes with the forward direction at the top of the display. In this mode, the icon remains stationary over the moving map.

Traditional geoacoustic and ocean data collection efforts by skilled scientists will always be a cornerstone of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography (MetOc) Program. In recent years however, other methods have been explored to further expand the scope of these data collection efforts. This effort has been driven, in part, by a declining MetOc Program Budget combined with other programmatic considerations both within and outside the Naval MetOc Program. PEO C41 and Space PMW 150, in conjunction with CNMOC, NAVOCEANO, NAVSEA, NAVAIR, and scientists from ONR, NRL, and various National Laboratories and industry, are focused on developing new methods to sense the environment, either through direct or inferred measurements, using tactical sensors. One of these efforts is focused on the development of Through-The-Sensor (TTS) technology. This effort seeks to use data from tactical sensors to characterize the battlespace environment. These data can then be used in Fleet Tactical Decision Aids (TDAs) to modify ASW and MIW tactics and enhance situational awareness at the single ship, Carner Strike Group (CSG), Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) and Theater USW (TUSW) level. Near term efforts include the exploitation of various mine-hunting sensors such as the AOS-20 and side scan sonar and submarine sensors such as the Precision Undersea Mapper (PUMA) and tactical towed arrays. Exploitation of sensors further on the horizon include submarine sensors such as the submarine CTD and fathometer (BON-17), the surface ship Instrumented Tow Cable (lTC), and the air community's Tactical Acoustic Measurement (TAM) Buoy.

Accurate navigation is just one of the many challenges for successfully coordinating multiple robot interaction. It is especially important when trying to quantify the success of new techniques being developed to achieve coordinated formation maneuvering. This paper presents the experimental procedures followed while determining robot navigation error along with an evaluation of the resultant measurements. An inexpensive, easily configurable, camera system is presented that shows the potential to provide accurate position information. Along with a description of the system configuration, test procedures and test data are presented and evaluated. Finally, a comparison of the robot navigation error to that of the proposed camera system is presented.

The use of the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) Standardization Agreement 1059-Letter Codes for Geographical Entities offers a common agreement of a two-digit character string to identify world countries (e.g., US=United States, GB=United Kingdom). In April 2003, NATO released STANAG 1059 (8th Edition), which effectively updated these country codes to a three-digit entity so that further definition of country provinces could be provided within these attributes. For example, the new code for the US includes identifiers for individual states and commonwealth areas such as the code US-MS' representing United States - Mississippi.' Although many might welcome the expansion of this code as an enhancement of the information, some users of legacy software and database systems with source code structured to the two-digit code may view it differently.

While data acquired from deep-towed seismic surveys offer the potential of greatly increased image resolution over the surface-towed approach, accurate positioning constitutes an important challenge which, if not performed accurately, could offset the benefits gained by the proximity between the source and the ocean bottom. We present here a new procedure that optimally determines relay and receiver positions at all times, using the Long Baseline acoustic navigation system. Navigation and seismic data were acquired during the October 2002 Cascadia Margin cruise., Also See ADM001469 The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.

The Naval DMAP serves as a technical representative for the Oceanographer of the Navy, NO96 to address significant issues relevant to the Navy's use and development of digital Mapping, Charting & Geodesy (MC&G) data. These efforts may include: (1) Technical Evaluations, (2) Advanced Techniques/Demonstrations, (3) Final quality control for Digital Nautical Chart (DNC) data, and (4) MC&G Standards Development. This report describes the extent of FY03 efforts relevant to each of these major DMAP tasks., The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.