# Ocean Sciences

**R-2A activity** of project 1398 — Ocean Atmosphere and Space Sciences  
**Program element:** 0601153N — Defense Research Sciences  
**Component:** U.S. Navy · **Budget Activity:** 1  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0601153N/1398/a0  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0601153N/1398

## Summary

This activity requests $54.9M in FY2027, 48% of project 1398, down 19% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2026–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

## What the FY2027 request buys

**FY2027 planned work.** - Continue research investigations to improve the quality of the environmental analysis and prediction provided in support of warfighters, including the assessment of the impact of the atmosphere and ionosphere-thermosphere-magnetosphere on the performance of sensors, platforms and weapon systems, and the advancement of our basic understanding of atmospheric processes across spatial scales and the interactions of the atmosphere with the land, sea, wave, ice, and thermosphere. - Continue research efforts to exploit environmental observations and to characterize environmental processes more accurately, thus providing improved forecast models for the Navy and Marine Corps in regions where operations take place, including: the littoral zone, where complex topography and air-sea-land contrasts impact the environment on very short time and space scales; the tropics and sub-tropics; and the Arctic, where longer time scale atmospheric changes affect short-term weather events. - Continue research on the coupled processes in the high atmosphere, between the troposphere and stratosphere and the stratosphere/mesosphere and ionosphere and their effect on weather and space weather prediction. (NRL) - Continue research efforts regarding atmospheric or Earth system coupled processes that are not well understood (cloud and aerosol interactions, etc.), marine boundary layer and coastal prediction, and diurnal and mesoscale variability to improve their representation in forecast models. - Continue research efforts regarding marine atmospheric boundary layer gradients and processes important for low and mid-cloud evolution and structure. - Continue research investigations regarding key physical processes (marine atmospheric clouds, moisture and aerosol phenomena, etc.) to improve their representation in weather prediction models. - Continue research investigations of new and non-conventional observational data sources and novel methodologies for their assimilation into operational predictive models. - Continue efforts regarding the deployment of observing systems in the upper troposphere, middle and upper atmosphere and the near-space environment to allow extension of prediction systems into the middle and upper atmosphere and provide longer and higher fidelity forecasts. - Continue research investigations regarding the distribution, transport and time evolution of aerosols in the atmosphere and their impact on atmospheric visibility and laser propagation. - Continue new research in satellite-based environmental remote sensing algorithms and techniques tailored to improved retrievals for phenomena and regions of particular Naval interest. - Continue new research in atmospheric river dynamics and interaction with global circulation and air-sea interaction for improved prediction of extreme events and error modes for extended range forecasts. - Continue new research in the use of signals of opportunity such as GNSS radio occultation, reflectometry, and other anomalous propagation modes as a means to provide insight into the structure of the atmosphere and ocean surface that they are propagating through. The 'Marine Meteorology Analysis and Prediction' research area includes the following: - Complete research efforts regarding marine atmospheric boundary layer gradients and processes important for low and mid-cloud evolution and structure. - Complete research investigations regarding key physical processes (marine atmospheric clouds, moisture and aerosol phenomena, etc.) to improve their representation in weather prediction models. - Continue research investigations of new and non-conventional observational data sources and novel methodologies such as ML/AI methods for their assimilation into operational predictive models. - Continue efforts regarding the deployment of observing systems in the upper troposphere, middle and upper atmosphere and the near-space environment to allow extension of prediction systems into the middle and upper atmosphere and provide longer and higher fidelity forecasts. - Continue research investigations regarding the distribution, transport and time evolution of aerosols in the atmosphere and their impact on atmospheric visibility and laser propagation. - Continue new research in satellite-based environmental remote sensing algorithms and techniques tailored to improved retrievals for phenomena and regions of particular Naval interest. - Continue new research in atmospheric river dynamics and interaction with global circulation and air-sea interaction for improved prediction of extreme events and error modes for extended range forecasts. - Continue new research in the use of signals of opportunity such as GNSS radio occultation, reflectometry, and other anomalous propagation modes as a means to provide insight into the structure of the atmosphere and ocean surface that they are propagating through. - Initiate new research into mesospheric processes and transport between the stratosphere and the thermosphere. - Initiate new research into moisture transport between the Arctic and mid-latitudes for improved understanding and prediction of high impact weather. - Initiate new research into novel low order models for prediction of operational weather impacts at the edge for austere and communications limited environments. The 'Space Research' program explores innovative sensor development, physics-based modeling and forecasting efforts integrated across the geo-space environmental research areas. Geospace research efforts include: - Continue research into affordable small-sat sensors to investigate and specify the three dimensional structure and evolution of the electromagnetic signal propagation environment in the ionosphere, including ionospheric bubbles.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Funding decrease due to completion of research investigations of three-dimensional Lagrangian ocean circulation and the prediction of vertical pathways in field experiments in the Mediterranean Sea and research regarding the seasonal variability of processes that control sea surface temperature in the Arabian Sea to understand the relevant space and time scales that enable improved ocean and weather forecasts through the reduction of ocean temperature biases in coupled models.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Continue research investigations to improve the quality of the environmental analysis and prediction provided in support of warfighters, including the assessment of the impact of the atmosphere and ionosphere-thermosphere-magnetosphere on the performance of sensors, platforms and weapon systems, and the advancement of our basic understanding of atmospheric processes across spatial scales and the interactions of the atmosphere with the land, sea, wave, ice, and thermosphere. - Continue research efforts to exploit environmental observations and to characterize environmental processes more accurately, thus providing improved forecast models for the Navy and Marine Corps in regions where operations take place, including: the littoral zone, where complex topography and air-sea-land contrasts impact the environment on very short time and space scales; the tropics and sub-tropics; and the Arctic, where longer time scale atmospheric changes affect short-term weather events. - Continue research on the coupled processes in the high atmosphere, between the troposphere and stratosphere and the stratosphere/mesosphere and ionosphere and their effect on weather and space weather prediction. (NRL) - Continue research efforts regarding atmospheric or Earth system coupled processes that are not well understood (cloud and aerosol interactions, etc.), marine boundary layer and coastal prediction, and diurnal and mesoscale variability to improve their representation in forecast models. - Continue research efforts regarding marine atmospheric boundary layer gradients and processes important for low and mid-cloud evolution and structure. - Continue research investigations regarding key physical processes (marine atmospheric clouds, moisture and aerosol phenomena, etc.) to improve their representation in weather prediction models. - Continue research investigations of new and non-conventional observational data sources and novel methodologies for their assimilation into operational predictive models. - Continue efforts regarding the deployment of observing systems in the upper troposphere, middle and upper atmosphere and the near-space environment to allow extension of prediction systems into the middle and upper atmosphere and provide longer and higher fidelity forecasts. - Continue research investigations regarding the distribution, transport and time evolution of aerosols in the atmosphere and their impact on atmospheric visibility and laser propagation. - Continue new research in satellite-based environmental remote sensing algorithms and techniques tailored to improved retrievals for phenomena and regions of particular Naval interest. - Continue new research in atmospheric river dynamics and interaction with global circulation and air-sea interaction for improved prediction of extreme events and error modes for extended range forecasts. - Continue new research in the use of signals of opportunity such as GNSS radio occultation, reflectometry, and other anomalous propagation modes as a means to provide insight into the structure of the atmosphere and ocean surface that they are propagating through. Littoral Geosciences and Optics research efforts address nonlinear coupling between atmospheric phenomena and surface/waves, sediment transport dynamics, and the study of bathymetric environments using field observations, modeling, and remote sensing data. Research efforts aligned to this area include the following: - Continue studies of surface gravity waves, currents, tides and internal wave processes along rocky coastlines. - Continue autonomous, scalable, hydrographic charting and coastal parameter sampling studies with concomitant remote sensing for data-assimilative coastal models. - Continue research using airborne and satellite active and passive microwave sensors, overhead optical sensors, and ship or shore-based radars to observe coastal and nearshore phenomena. - Continue studies of the dynamics of shallow coastal inlets; specific areas include their formation and maintenance processes by tides, waves, currents, discharge and sediment type and supply. - Continue research to predict physical, geological, geochemical, geo-acoustic and geotechnical properties of the seafloor in shallow-water coastal environments. - Continue research investigations of sub-seabed geophysical properties. - Complete field studies of coastal oceanographic phenomena using sonar-equipped autonomous underwater vehicles in conjunction with ground-based, airborne and satellite remote sensing. The 'Space Research' program explores innovative sensor development, physics-based modeling and forecasting efforts integrated across the geo-space environmental research areas. Geospace research efforts include: - Continue research into affordable small-sat sensors to investigate and specify the three dimensional structure and evolution of the electromagnetic signal propagation environment in the ionosphere, including ionospheric bubbles. Employ stereo imaging and tomographic reconstruction to access the three dimensional structure and evolution of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere, relevant to Naval communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and geolocation. - Continue development of our understanding and computational representation of upper atmospheric, ionospheric relevant plasma processes and their coupling to the lower atmosphere and solar inputs, towards a future physics-based ionospheric prediction capability. - Continue development of new imaging techniques to examine the structure and evolution of additional airglow chemical species in the ionosphere for dayside and nightside processes. - Continue the development of new neutral density atmospheric observations for the mesosphere. - Continue observational research in polar ionospheric processes for improved regional prediction of the ionosphere at high latitudes.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 70.4 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 68.1 |
| FY2027 | Request | 54.9 |

> Prior, current and budget year only — an R-2A activity carries no five-year plan. It sums exactly into its project in the request year and not necessarily in any other.

## Other activities in project 1398

- [Battlespace Environments](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0601153N/1398/a2) — FY2027 31.3
- [Research Facilities](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0601153N/1398/a6) — FY2027 20.1
- Physical Oceanography and Prediction — FY2027 6.6
- Ocean Acoustics — FY2027 2.0
- Expeditionary Ocean Atmosphere and Space Sciences — FY2027 0.0
- Space Research — FY2027 0.0

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Navy RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 0601153N project 1398 (PB PB2027). Narrative is the government's own text.
- **No marks, no contractors at this grain** — congressional marks land on the program element and R-3 performers on the project.
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_activity`.

*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. Budget figures are requests/estimates, not obligations.*