Battlespace on demand for maritime threats: mine/IED drift in the Strait of Hormuz and near Iraqi oil terminals

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Author
Chu, Peter C.
Williams, C.L.
Haeger, S.D.
Clem, T.
Ward, M.
Date
2008Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
An attack by drifting mines and or improvised explosion devices (IEDs) in the Strait of Hormuz or
near Iraqi Oil Terminals in the northern Persian Gulf has disastrous effects on global economy and
military operations. Such impacts are highly dependent upon environmental conditions. The Strait
of Hormuz is narrow and has turbulent currents that change in intensity and direction due to the
reverse estuarine flow of the Persian Gulf. On the border between extratropical and monsoonal
atmospheric synoptic influences, the wind direction and intensity are dependent on time of year,
which side of the strait due to terrain, and time of day due to land/sea breeze cycles. Mine/IED
drift trajectory is analyzed utilizing a Lagrangian drift model with inputs of surface winds and
currents from the Naval Oceanographic Office and the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and
Oceanography Center, followed by comparative analysis with climatology inputs. The results show that the variable nature of the wind/current direction and speed through the strait and in the Gulf is impossible to capture using climatology inputs. Therefore, using operational, near real time environmental data is necessary for information superiority.
Description
Eighth Monterey International Symposium on Technology and Mine Problems, Society for Counter-Ordnance Technology, Monterey, California, 8 pages in CD-Rom
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
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