{"id":439,"date":"2026-03-04T10:01:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T10:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cmre.nato.int\/ar25\/?page_id=439"},"modified":"2026-04-14T18:58:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:58:15","slug":"environmental-knowledge-and-operational-effectiveness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.cmre.nato.int\/ar25\/environmental-knowledge-and-operational-effectiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Knowledge and Operational Effectiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Environmental Knowledge and Operational Effectiveness <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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FUNDING BODY: NATO ALLIED COMMAND TRANSFORMATION<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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During the Cold War, NATO and the Allies put considerable effort into observing and recording the oceanographic environment of the North Atlantic, Greenland Sea, Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea areas, and modelling the way that sound propagates through complicated sea water structures, interacting with both the sea surface and the sea floor.\u00a0 The reason why so much effort was expended was because the principal way that NATO anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platforms could detect submarines is by using underwater acoustics, or sonars, both passive\u2014that listen for sounds, and active\u2014that transmit sound energy and then listen for an echo.\u00a0 The performance of NATO ASW capabilities could, and can, be optimized through detailed knowledge of the undersea environment.<\/p>

\u00a0After the end of the Cold War, NATO\u2019s focus was on Non-Article 5 Crisis Response Operations, and there was a general loss of interest in keeping NATO\u2019s knowledge of oceanographic conditions in the North Atlantic up to date.\u00a0 However, the re-emergence of the Russian submarine force and their threat to NATO\u2019s deterrence and defence strategy means that there is now a critical, urgent need to regenerate NATO\u2019s ASW capabilities.\u00a0 Unfortunately, in the years between the end of the Cold War and today, the global climate has changed a significantly, and in the High North climate change effects are probably the most noticeable globally.\u00a0 The outcome: much of NATO\u2019s historical oceanographic knowledge\u2014so painstakingly built over decades\u2014is largely redundant.<\/p>

\u00a0In this context, the CMRE EKOE programme observes, analyses and models the undersea environment in the context of NATO ASW operations in the strategically important North Atlantic Ocean, Greenland Sea, Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea area.\u00a0 In addition, autonomous capabilities for rapid environmental assessment (REA) are developed.<\/p>

\u00a0In July 2025, the CMRE EKOE team completed the Nordic Recognised Environmental Picture 2025 (NREP25) trial on-board NRV Alliance<\/em> in the Greenland Sea, successfully collecting environmental data for acoustic modelling purposes.\u00a0 Additionally, data from previous NREP trials was analysed in detail to support the forecasting of ASW sonar performance.<\/p>

\u00a0In support of REA, additional sensors were fitted to an autonomous undersea glider for the collection of environmental data influencing the propagation of sound.\u00a0 CMRE researchers also tested and delivered a data-driven model\u2014exploiting symmetries and linearity\u2014to estimate ASW sonar detection ranges from a minimal, sparse set of observations, collected by a passive acoustic network of sonobuoys, maritime uncrewed systems, etc.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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