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INDIAN OCEAN– In late September, as Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) transited the South China Sea, strong winds and high seas endlessly rocked the ship. To many aboard Vinson, it may have appeared to be another case of bad weather like they had already seen on the 2021 Western Pacific deployment. However, the Sailors of the Meteorology and Oceanography Division knew otherwise: it was a tropical storm, and it was their job to help steer the ship clear of it.
“On a carrier, the environment can create significant hazards,” said Lt. Cmdr. Tyonna McPherson, Carrier Strike Group (CSG) One’s flag meteorology and oceanography officer, also known as METOC. “Even though we were outside the radius of the storm, we still had some energy from Tropical Storm Mindulle and we saw some pretty significant sea heights those couple of days. We can’t move tropical storms, but we can move ourselves.”
McPherson said that carrier operations are typically influenced by the information her office provides, and their input is especially critical during hazardous weather conditions. Making these updates requires them to make observations and reports frequently.
“METOC produces a formal forecast every 12 hours,” said McPherson. “We update a weather scroller for the aviators roughly every hour, and we do observations every 30 minutes to an hour depending on any hazardous conditions like thunderstorms or bad weather.”
Aerographer’s Mate 3rd Class Theron Joshua Regero, Vinson’s only “organic” aerographer’s mate (meaning that he is the only AG assigned to the ship itself), said that his division’s inputs help to give pilots a picture of what kind of conditions they are about to fly in.
“Our observations let air operations know their current situation,” said Regero. “Using that information, the pilots adjust their instruments so they can fly properly.”
McPherson said that, for flight operations, her office specifically looks for the level of the clouds, otherwise known as the “ceiling.”
“There are certain operations that pilots do that require a minimum level of ceiling in which they can conduct that particular operation,” said McPherson. “We provide that information as well as cloud thickness.”
Aerographer’s Mate 1st Class Cole Bedgood said that working in the METOC office is an important job, one with dire consequences if something goes wrong.
“Weather can literally kill people,” said Bedgood. “If we don’t pay attention to every little thing that’s happening out there, a plane could go down and crash. We’re trying to prevent that.”
METOC’s job isn’t limited to the weather above the Earth’s surface: they also track what is going on under the ocean.
“It’s not only looking at weather, but also oceanography,” said McPherson. “We look at what’s going on subsurface and identify if there are any hazards, including bathometric or topographic features underwater, and also things that move such as submarines.”
METOC uses a variety of technical systems to make better predictions, and the accuracy of their reports has a significant impact on operations.
“METOC utilizes not only satellites, but data from past years to predict the future,” said Bedgood. “To avoid cancelling operations if possible, we take every source of information that we have access to so we can get the most accurate forecast. We can preemptively let the decision-makers know which days would be good for operations or not.”
In addition to being accurate, METOC needs to constantly keep key leaders informed about the weather.
“We are tactical decision aides,” said McPherson. “We provide supplemental information and situational awareness to enhance decision makers’ knowledge of their environment and how that can impact warfighting.”
“Weather is important,” said Regero. “We give our inputs to the commanding officer, and he uses them to make decisions for the entire ship. That’s a big deal.”
With Tropical Storm Mindulle back in September, the 16 METOC personnel aboard Vinson were instrumental in giving the commanding officer the information necessary to make his decision to navigate out of the course of the storm and to continue normal operations. Thanks to them, Vinson was able to operate within the threshold of acceptable risk.
“These Sailors had to make sure they were providing forecasts that would inform our pilots and ship drivers so they could safely continue to operate in that environment,” said McPherson. “To be able to still operate in those kinds of conditions, just underneath our threshold, was a success story.”
Bedgood shared in McPherson’s enthusiasm for the positive impact that METOC has had on the ship’s mission and said that he and his shipmates will continue to help the ship steer clear of any threats as it enters the last half of its Western Pacific deployment.
“There are some things that have to continue, rain or shine,” said Bedgood. “METOC is one of them.”
| Date Taken: | 10.24.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 12.31.2021 00:52 |
| Story ID: | 412202 |
| Location: | INDIAN OCEAN |
| Web Views: | 109 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, METOC: Rain or Shine, by PO2 Emily Bennett, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
