Appendix 6. The Sound Surveillance System

[SOSUS] Data Assessment

USE OF DATA FROM THE SOUND SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM (SOSUS) FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

Background. This responds to a request contained in Conference Report H.R. 105-736 for an assessment of four issues related to the use of SOSUS data for research and education.

The overall question of how to leverage the nation's investment in SOSUS for other than its original purpose has been addressed several times since the end of the Cold War and documented in reports such as "Dual Use of IUSS" (Joint Oceanographic Institutions, 1994). The potential research and educational uses of SOSUS data have not changed significantly during this time. The problematic issue has always been how to accommodate such applications without compromising legitimate national security interests. Recent developments demonstrate progress in addressing that issue. For several years, researchers with security clearances have been using classified data from operational stations for various applications with support from the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program. More recently the Ocean Acoustic Observatory Federation has begun collecting classified SOSUS data from reactivated stations (decommissioned by Navy but authorized for civil uses) in the Pacific with support from the National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP). In June 1998, a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) signed by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWARSYSCEN) and the Scientific Environmental Research Foundation (SERF) established for the first time a vehicle by which SOSUS data from reactivated stations could be made available at the unclassified level.

Issue 1: [Assess] the value of SOSUS data to meet the requirements of appropriate private and public institutions and agencies with ocean research and education programs.

Previous reviews have described the potential of SOSUS data to support research into a variety of areas including marine mammal movement patterns, mid-ocean ridge geophysics, and studies of regional seismology. Some of those research efforts are in progress today using classified data from both operational and reactivated stations. However, these efforts are conducted by individuals who are not only experts in specific fields but who also have security clearances and prior knowledge of the SOSUS system.

A more complete assessment of the value of SOSUS data to users outside the Anti-Submarine Warfare community will only be possible after a representative long-term data set is made available at the unclassified level. Subsequently, potential users would have the opportunity to develop proposals focused on their own research or other activities.

Issue 2: [Assess] the cost of making SOSUS data available for such purposes in comparison to the cost of deploying alternative data-gathering systems.

Every site offers opportunities for one or more applications, but each site has its own geographic and system-health limitations. The cost of reactivating the first decommissioned site in the Pacific was less than $100,000 and operating costs are approximately $40,000 per year. The cost to archive the classified data from this first site is about $4,000 per year, and will grow as the data accumulate. Startup and operational costs at other sites should be roughly comparable, but will vary based on each station's present condition. Declassification of one years' data from the three Pacific stations operated by the NOPP sponsored Ocean Acoustic Observatory Federation, using the procedures envisioned in SERF's CRADA with Navy, is estimated to cost $500,000. Recurring costs, and the incremental cost associated with additional data sources, can be better estimated after the declassification procedures have been tested. To the extent the data satisfy the needs of many users, these costs may be small when compared with the cost for each user to deploy and recover their own alternative data gathering system.

A pilot project to determine the costs of creating and providing access to declassified data is an important component of developing a cost/benefit analysis for the use of these data for research and other purposes. By relying on NOPP and SERDP investments to meet collection and dissemination costs, the pilot project could cost no more than about $550,000. An outreach effort might also be considered, to ensure the broad community of potential users is made aware of the pilot project; depending on the approach chosen the cost should in no case exceed $250,000 and could be considerably less.

The number of users and their alternative data collection costs will not be known until the community of potential users has the opportunity to develop proposals to utilize SOSUS data for specific research and other purposes. The unclassified data set described in the response to Issue 1 is an essential precursor to the development of focused proposals, which in turn are needed to support meaningful cost comparisons.

Issue 3: [Recommend] options for making such data available to civilian and defense research and education institutions and agencies.

A small number of investigators is making use of classified SOSUS data for research and associated graduate education, but such uses are limited to scientists with appropriate security clearances. The attendant security requirements represent a manageable but real burden, which slows the dissemination of results and can discourage all but the most dedicated. Additionally, while these investigations are important in their own right and demonstrate the value of continued access to classified data for scientific purposes, they do not constitute the full range of research or other uses for SOSUS data. To realize the greatest possible return on the national investment in SOSUS, data must be available at the unclassified level to any funded user.

Before committing the resources necessary to routinely collect and declassify data from all reactivated sites, a Pilot Project of the kind envisioned in SERF's CRADA with Navy should be considered. Providing a year-long unclassified data set from one or more of the NOPP Ocean Acoustic Observatory Federation sites would permit declassification and dissemination procedures to be tested, would provide improved cost estimates, and would enable a much broader community of scientists and other potential users to evaluate the importance of such data for their individual efforts. Data from such a Pilot Project could also be used to evaluate the usefulness of SOSUS as a possible element of a national Ocean Observation System.

Issue 4: [Provide] recommendations on effective ways to foster cooperation among agencies that would benefit from SOSUS data, including the potential for cost-sharing among the agencies and institutions that would participate in the program.

The National Ocean Research Leadership Council together with its supporting bodies includes representation from most of the institutions and agencies which might benefit from SOSUS data, and is well-suited to foster cooperation among them. The NORLC will consider support for cost-sharing an appropriate SOSUS Pilot Project at its next meeting. The goal is to determine the feasibility of providing routine access to declassified SOSUS data in such a way that it does not adversely impact national security activities.

SOSUS Task Team Members

Go to next section: Appendix 7. Year of the Ocean [YOTO] Ocean Buoy Project

Return to NOPP Report to Congress 1999 and table of contents

Go to NOPP homepage