18 NAVY NEWS, AUGUST 2009
I
T’S A grey office, red
carpet on the floor, ceiling
tiles overhead, banks of
computer screens showing
brightly-coloured graphics.
No windows though.
Keeping an eye
Which comes as something of
a surprise when you realise that
the job of the men and women
who work here is to watch the
skies.
Down in the bunker at
Permanent Joint Headquarters
in Northwood resides the
on the weather
JOMOC – the Joint Operational
Meteorology and Oceanography
Centre.
Down in the Bunker at Northwood can be found the Joint Operational Meteorology and Oceanography Centre;
Once upon a time this was the
home of the Fleet Weather and
their tag-line is “Exploiting the environment to enable joint battlespace superiority” – or in simplistic terms the
Oceanographic Centre, handily
weathermen who can predict to commanders in theatre the best time and place to do what they want. Helen
based at Northwood alongside
Craven meets the men and women who know the future.
Fleet HQ and watching over the
world’s seas.
churning out the same product.
And the Defence Met Centre at
But that’s changed.
Air Command in High Wycombe
watched over the global land
“It’s exciting knowing
mass.
that you can affect
But last year these two
someone’s business
organisations were pulled
from underground in
together into one, pooling
North London. We’re
expertise, experience and
increasingly making
expectations into a centre that
bespoke products
can answer weather questions
because that’s what the
on any realm in this increasingly
punter needs.”
joint world of operations. Hence He added: “Unless you’ve
the name. been there and seen it, you
There is however a quiet have no idea.
pride to be detected among “We can email direct to the
the senior service that their guy at the other end. Because
numbers outweigh their Met that could be me – we know
Office counterparts. what it’s like to be without the
Suggestions that perhaps information.”
the Met Office personnel prefer For HMs out in the Fleet, the
daylight are met with scorn. changes have started to be
It’s simply, I am told, that noticed.
the Navy has always needed
its weathermen to know about
the sea (the Fleet), land (Royal
Marines) and the sky (Fleet Air
S
omewhere off Borneo,
Lt Ben Barrett, the HM
supporting Commander
Arm). So their skills have long
Amphibious Task Group during
been honed in all the different
this year’s Taurus 09 deployment
● Naval forecaster Lt Joe Tretton in front of a bank of information screens checking on the global
environments.
weather in Northwood
out to the Far East, finds that the
Picture: Mark Newcomb, PJHQ Northwood
changes have given a sharper
And in fact, the
– Hydrographic, Meteorological to the fleet. Simple things like unit, it’s removed duplication of
package to aid his role on the
Royal Navy is the
and Oceanographic Specialists missile firings, gun firings, effort and improved the sharing
far side of the globe.
only service with its
(so I hope you’ll understand the aviation work-ups.” of expertise.
He showed examples of the
own meteorological
shortening). The JOMOC’s output is
and oceanographic
not just a published product,
personnel.
C
olin Seddon is one of the
detailed information on HMS
Met Officers at the unit – Bulwark that he can now grab
he’s also a RAF Reservist online from the JOMOC centre,
The RAF has always sourced
A
nd it’s in JOMOC that
they can pull together
broadcast in all its polished
the forecasts to tell
glory. HMs on the ships can –
Flight Lieutenant, who when I saying: “It’s a lot more specific
its weathermen from the Met
commanders on the ground and
and do – contact the centre for
spoke to him was about to head now. There’s a lot more theatre,
Office, itself a branch of the
at sea to hold fire for just seven
specific reasons, with the reply
out to Bastion for his second and it’s more operationally
MOD; and indeed many of the
hours so that the patch of cloud
containing detailed information
stint of duty out there (he was in relevant. There’s a better focus
Met officers are themselves
will clear for a safe take-off, or
tailored to their needs.
Kandahar over the winter, and on certain parts of the world.
Reservists within the RAF.
the fog will drop for a stealthy
JOMOC credits a lot of the
has had five trips to Basra in the “I have to do a brief twice a
The work of all these
launch, or shift 12 nautical miles
value of its output to the efforts
last three years). day to ComATG. The analysis
weathermen is to gather up and
to the south-west where the
going on in the Fleet and on the
He said: “You can’t
and prognosis products have a
finesse all the information from
clouds are clear.
ground to ensure the quality of
beat going out there.
lot more focus which is good. I
the supercomputers at the Met
Back in the day the charts
that data.
Experience really helps.
can actually use their products
Office, the UKHO, the Defence
were all drawn by hand (on the
Cdr David McDonnell said:
It’s nothing like anything
in my briefing now.”
Geographic Centre, HMs out
wall as an enduring reminder
“Despite the Met Office having
we do in the UK, because
He looked out of the small
in the Fleet, remote sensors
of the past hangs the D-Day
massive computers, like
of the mountains. Things
window in the HM office to the
and importantly the Navy’s
landing chart), but now all
anything – rubbish in, rubbish
that we do in the UK just
South China Sea, and laughing
hydrographic survey ships Echo,
the forecasting has shifted to
out.
don’t work out there.
said: “In this part of the world
Enterprise, Roebuck and Scott.
digital.
“So we need good data to we don’t really get analysis
The fruits of their labour are On screen a geographical
feed in. Credible sources – ships, “The main problem we have and product. To be honest, we
then beamed out to ships, to map is overlaid with the weather
aircraft, commercial aircraft and
there is the sparsity of data. We
don’t get that much weather
ensure that their wind and wave and other information, giving
military units – automatically
try to get observations from the
out here.”
watchers are at worst 12 hours the commander an at-a-glance
feed information back.”
Forward Operating Bases, and
The pattern of weather in the
out of date with the latest global idea about how the whole
Lt Cdr Braithwaite added:
from aircraft observers – how
tropics is not denied, but in
forecasts. environment affects his specific
“Feedback from the units on
strong the wind is and height.
more temperate zones like the
Lest I bring down the wrath of operation.
the information we provide is
We can predict then for down
UK and the Mediterranean, the
the HMs, the term weathermen is Lt Cdr Jez Braithwaite
invaluable to what we do – not
on the surface.
variability of weather patterns
obviously a somewhat simplistic said: “Weather affects all our
just in terms of the data they
“There are different sides
can have a big impact.
term for a somewhat complex operations; it filters all the way
provide us, but the value we can
to the Met officer. We can
“All operations can be
role – it’s not just about the down eventually. Even simple
add to what we do.
have minimal contact with the
affected,” he said. “In Exercise
weather. things like a ship sailing into
“The modelling for conditions
customer. But when you’re
Egemen the weather was
It’s about the sea-state, the harbour.
in theatre is done at the Met
out there it actually means
crucial. The whole exercise
height of swell and which way
Office. We here look at the data
something.”
almost stopped because of it.
it’s moving, the state of the
“Weather affects the
predicted by that model. We
The time out in theatre makes
“It took place at the end of
watercolumn, the types of cloud
way sensors work on the
interpret it, then send it on – we
a big difference to how the men
March in the Mediterranean – lots
for flying, the conditions for the
ships, morale on the ships
do try to avoid data overload.
and women at JOMOC provide
of weather, wind speed, all these
radar and radio frequencies,
– steaming into four days
“We also try to give options
their data: “We’re trying to get
things could have prohibited
the sonar, and a myriad of
of bad weather, fogged
– rather than just the weather’s
away from weather forecasts,
small craft operation.”
other intricate parts of military
out aircraft carriers...”
going to be bad, but because we
but tailor it to operational
life that are affected by the “Heat and stress advice out know the options, we suggest
needs,” adds Colin.
Back in Northwood Lt
daily temperature, conditions in theatre. It all restricts what that 120 miles to the east you
“People are realising that
Ritchie also has praise
and variations of the globe’s people can do, particularly now can achieve the goal that you
we can help them, by moving
for the joint nature of
climate. it’s into summer.” want.”
operations backwards or
the unit now: “There’s
All of which is summed up He added: “We brief wherever By bringing together the
forwards by 12 hours can make
stuff that both of us
in their unabbreviated HM title the Navy is. And it’s crucial military forecasters into one
a big difference to the success
bring to the party.
of the op – things like a big dust
With increasingly joint
storm coming in.
operations, where do you
“Most commanders are
turn to? Now you’ve got a
starting to take notice of it.
one-stop shop.”
“That’s the best thing about
Lt Tretton said: “We are pretty
being out there, actually making
spot on now with forecasts. We
a difference.”
can be as accurate as we need
It’s a sentiment echoed by the
to be, we’re looking at how
Naval forecasters, all of whom
to get that information to the
will have spent time out on ships
people who need it in a form
at sea learning what their COs
they can use.
want to know before coming
“Graphically we can push out
down into the Bunker.
an awful lot of information. We are
As HMs who have worked out
constantly and rapidly evolving
in the Fleet, they see the value
to meet new demands.”
of their first-hand experience.
Lt Ritchie concluded: “I really
Lt Joe Tretton said: “You come
hope that every ship that sails
in here, you know what you
and unit that deploys is getting
wanted when you were away,
a bespoke product to take
and you use that experience to
advantage of good weather and
turn it around.
avoid bad.”
“Our job is to support the
front-line. To be at the end of
■ Contacts: (Military only) Duty
the phone when they need help
forecaster 9360 58100
or support.”
Website: www.jomoc.net
Lt Iain Ritchie commented: ● Background picture: NASA-
“We almost are the green light/ MSFC Hurricane Ivan pictured
red light man on operations. by Expedition 9 crew on board
“In the past the job has been the International Space Station
in 2004● The forecasters at JOMOC can warn of a gale at sea... Picture: AET Mark Connell, 815 NAS a bit of a sausage factory,
018_NN_aug09 JOMOC2.indd 1 21/7/09 15:48:28
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