10 Facts About Geophysical MASINT

Geophysical MASINT is a branch of Measurement and Signature Intelligence that involves phenomena transmitted through the earth and manmade structures including emitted or reflected sounds, pressure waves, vibrations, and magnetic field or ionosphere disturbances.

Geophysical MASINT was recognized as a formal intelligence discipline in 1986.

Geophysical MASINT sensors have a long history in conventional military and commercial applications, from weather prediction for sailing, to fish finding for commercial fisheries, to nuclear test ban verification.

Geophysical MASINT using acoustic, seismic, and magnetic sensors would appear to have promise, but these sensors must be fairly close to the target.

Hydrographic Geophysical MASINT is subtly different from weather, in that it considers factors such as water temperature and salinity, biologic activities, and other factors that have a major effect on sensors and weapons used in shallow water.

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Critical to the prediction of sound, needed by active and passive Geophysical MASINT systems operating in water is knowing the temperature and salinity at specific depths.

That would have been obvious from the impact history alone, but these Geophysical MASINT sensors established a pattern of the enemy firing locations.

Originally for a Marine requirement in Afghanistan, UTAMS was combined with electro-optical Geophysical MASINT to produce the Rocket Launch Spotter system useful against both rockets and mortars.

Geophysical MASINT-oriented SAS measures shape characteristics and eliminates acoustically detected objects that do not conform to the signature of threats.

Since many areas of the world have a great deal of natural seismic activity, seismic Geophysical MASINT is one of the emphatic arguments that there must be a long-term commitment to measuring, even during peacetime, so that the signatures of natural behavior is known before it is necessary to search for variations from signatures.