CHAPTER 5
PLOTTING RADIOLOGICAL FALLOUT AND CHEMICAL
CONTAMINATION COVERAGE
INTRODUCTION
In military warfare operations, nuclear, biological,
and chemical (NBC) weapons may be employed by
either friendly or opposing forces with little warning.
Marine Corps observers are the personnel that are
primarily concerned with plotting nuclear fallout and
chemical contamination areas ashore. However, due to
the large number of Naval installations ashore and the
increasing emphasis on joint operations between Army,
Air Force, Marine, Special Operations, and Naval
forces, naval weather observers must be familiar with
plotting and predicting fallout and dispersion patterns
for nuclear and chemical weapons both ashore and at
sea.
Biological weapons are of concern to Navy and
Marine Corps operations, but the contamination hazard
from these weapons depends on the methods used to
deliver the agent. Biological agents are also very
difficult to detect or predict.
NATO NBC REPORTING SYSTEM
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify the
publication that governs the NATO nuclear,
biological, and chemical (NBC) warfare
prediction and warning system. Identify the
types of reports used in the NATO NBC
prediction and warning system. Recognize the
differences between NBC messages relating to
ground forces and NBC messages relating to
Naval forces.
The Allied Tactical Publication No. 45 (ATP-45),
Reporting Nuclear Detonations. Biological and
Chemical Attacks, and Predicting and Warning of
Associated Hazards and Hazard Areas, covers in detail
the procedures used by NATO forces to report nuclear,
biological, or chemical weapons employment, and to
estimate hazards associated with these weapons. The
publication also provides detailed information on
calculating and plotting nuclear, chemical, and
biological hazard areas.
In the NATO system, six types of messages are used
to report and track hazards associated with NBC
weapons:
NBC 1 (NUC, BIO, or CHEM)—initial report of
NBC weapons use.
NBC 2 (NUC, BIO, or CHEM)—follow-up
report of evaluated data.
NBC 3 (NUC, BIO, or CHEM)—effective
downwind message.
NBC 4 (NUC, BIO, or CHEM)—survey results.
NBC 5 (NUC, BIO, or CHEM)—report of areas
with contamination.
NBC 6 (NUC, BIO, or CHEM)—report of
details of chemical or biological attack.
When these messages are originated by Naval
Forces, or composed specifically for transmission to
Naval Forces, the abbreviation NAV precedes the report
title, such as NAV NBC 3 NUC. Naval NBC messages
use geographical coordinates for locations, nautical
miles for distances, true degrees for directions, and
knots for speeds. Ground forces, however, report all
positions in (UTM) coordinates, distances in
kilometers, directions in degrees or mils (see Appendix
V), and speeds in kilometers per hour. All times are in
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). You must be able
to convert between the systems of coordinates and
measurements, as explained earlier in AG module 1.
PLOTTING RADIOLOGICAL
FALLOUT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Plot nuclear
hazard areas by using information in either an
effective downwind forecast (EDF) or an actual
NATO nuclear detonation effective downwind
message (EDM). Identify the different types of
nuclear bursts.
Radiological fallout patterns may be plotted using
two types of products. In advance of any nuclear attack,
a nuclear effective downwind forecast (EDF) provides
general information to determine where and how far the
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