A Climatic Basis for Planning Military Training Operations and Land Maintenance Activities

Abstract : Military training exercises are generally scheduled without consideration of annual variation in climatic conditions. Thus, many heavy, mechanized maneuvers are inadvertently conducted when soils are likely to be wet. This causes needless damage to soil and vegetation which reduces the amount of additional training use the land can receive. This report presents the results of an investigation of the utility of long-term precipitation and temperature data for military land-use planning. the probability of weekly precipitation can be determined for each installation and a climate diagram prepared. Military trainers use of graphic presentation can be determined for each installation and a climate diagram prepared. Military trainers can use graphic presentations of this data to schedule major exercises when the probability of wet soils is low, thus reducing the risk of excessive environmental damage. Similarly, military land managers can use the graphs to identify optimum rehabilitation schedules.