Physical Oceanography Program

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) Physical Oceanography program is always interested in receiving research planning letters on topics related to our primary focus areas of submesoscale ocean processes and new ocean observing technologies, and the education of the next generation of scientists. Important changes in departmental focus have occurred and should be considered in your planning letter and proposal submissions.

The departmental strategy has been refocused to concentrate on the following strategic directions:

• Autonomy, off-board systems, unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) and gliders; long-endurance, high-reliability (for more information, email the LDUUV Innovative Naval Prototype lead)
• High-clearance rate mine countermeasures (MCM); see also Ocean Engineering and Marine Systems, Maritime Sensing and Littoral Geosciences and Optics
• Automation of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) signal processing, improve ASW capacity; see also Undersea Signal Processing, Maritime Sensing and Ocean Acoustics
• Seamless, global ocean-atmosphere-ice prediction; see also Arctic and Global Prediction
• Arctic processes leading to dynamic ice prediction; see also Arctic and Global Prediction
• Space exploitation, affordable space systems, see also Space Environment

The Physical Oceanography core program will continue to focus on understanding the basic underlying physics of the ocean and the education of the next-generation of scientists specializing in the physics of the ocean. Areas of interest include:

• Sub-mesoscale variability associated with fronts, jets and eddies; internal tides, turbulence and mixing; influence of regional variability on meso- and sub-mesoscale processes, sea strait dynamics
• Western boundary current forcing and variability on short time scales
• The processes that govern ocean mixing and surface fluxes and the role of turbulence
• Novel uses of existing or emerging remote, autonomous or in-situ instruments to understand the ocean on the scales at which the Navy operates; use of such data to improve ocean state predictions

Within the core program, ONR is particularly interested in receiving proposals to complete the analysis of existing data sets taken under previous ONR funding or to combine and analyze data sets between complimentary projects of any origin. The topic areas listed above give guidance on top-priority areas of data analysis.

The program fully embraces the Navy’s commitment to fostering science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, and will give highest priority to existing early student support commitments and will continue this as a focus of the core physical oceanography program. The Early Student Support Program is directed at re-invigorating student involvement in ONR-funded efforts.

ONR announces two new departmental research initiatives, or DRIs, in the basic physical oceanography area:

• Air-Sea Interactions in the Northern Indian Ocean – a regional initiative (ASIRI DRI)
• Waves, Langmuir Cells and the Upper Ocean Boundary Layer Research Initiative

When sending a planning letter to be considered for the DRI, please use the appropriate naming convention; due dates are the same as for the core program.

• Given the great budget uncertainty of fiscal year 2012 and the continued uncertainty for fiscal year 2013, the program is unlikely to embark on any additional field programs. The changes in the departmental strategy have generated a redistribution of available funding and the creation of the Arctic and Global Prediction program

Planning Letters

Planning Letter Due Date: June 30, 2012

The purpose of our planning letter process is to allow you to submit a brief description of your scientific idea so that we may look at it and give you programmatic and technical feedback before you invest your time in writing a full proposal. This allows us to give you a quick indication of where we think a full proposal may end up based on our program interest/priority. If you are uncertain of the appropriate place for you planning letter submission, we encourage you to submit to all possible interested teams and the review process will consider the appropriate alignment for your proposed work.

• Air-Sea Interactions in the Northern Indian Ocean – a regional initiative (ASIRI DRI)
• Waves, Langmuir Cells, and the Upper Ocean Boundary Layer Research Initiative