RECOMMENDED INITIAL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING STEPS • START THE SYS. ENG. PROCESS BY FOCUSING ON THE MARITIME OPERATIONS (MO) APPLICATION THEME IN ONE OR MORE OF OUR TESTBEDS WHERE SEACOOS HAS A RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF OBSERVATIONS AND CIRCULATION MODEL SUPPORT, AND WHERE MO APPLICATION INTEREST IS HIGH • DETERMINE THE SPATIAL-TEMPORAL CORRELATION SCALES OF OBSERVED AND SIMULATED FIELDS • DEVELOP “ERROR BARS” • SIMULATE AND EVALUATE THE EXISTING OBSERVING SYSTEM AND HYPOTHETICAL VARIANTS ON IT • CONDUCT Coastal Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (CODAE) ACTIVITIES, WHICH MAY REQUIRE WORKING WITH THE “IMITATORS”