Assessment of the FOAM global data assimilation system for real-time operational ocean forecasting

Bell, Michael; Forbes, R. M.; Hines, A.

doi:10.1016/s0924-7963(00)00005-1

Cited by 112 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Open boundary conditions for the outer AMM model were provided by the Met Office FOAM system North Atlantic model (Bell et al, 2000). The models were initialised using restart files provided by daily pre-operational models that run at the National Oceanography Centre as part of the Liverpool Bay Coastal Observatory .…”

Section: Polcomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling temperature and salinity in Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea: sensitivity to model type and surface forcing

et al. 2012

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Abstract. Three shelf sea models are compared against observed surface temperature and salinity in Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea: a 7 km NEMO (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean) model, and 12 km and 1.8 km POLCOMS (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System) models. Each model is run with two different surface forcing datasets of different resolutions.Comparisons with a variety of observations from the Liverpool Bay Coastal Observatory show that increasing the surface forcing resolution improves the modelled surface temperature in all the models, in particular reducing the summer warm bias and winter cool bias. The response of surface salinity is more varied with improvements in some areas and deterioration in others.The 7 km NEMO model performs as well as the 1.8 km POLCOMS model when measured by overall skill scores, although the sources of error in the models are different. NEMO is too weakly stratified in Liverpool Bay, whereas POLCOMS is too strongly stratified. The horizontal salinity gradient, which is too strong in POLCOMS, is better reproduced by NEMO which uses a more diffusive horizontal advection scheme. This leads to improved semi-diurnal variability in salinity in NEMO at a mooring site located in the Liverpool Bay ROFI (region of freshwater influence) area.

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Section: Polcomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling temperature and salinity in Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea: sensitivity to model type and surface forcing

et al. 2012

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“…Boundary data are provided by POL-COMS Atlantic Margin Model, with a resolution of 12 km. The POLCOMS Atlantic Margin Model, in turn, is forced by the North Atlantic FOAM Model [Bell et al, 2000]. A flux/radiation scheme for the barotropic component and an upwind advection scheme for temperature and salinity are used at the open boundaries.…”

Section: Appendix Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Are mesoscale eddies in shelf seas formed by baroclinic instability of tidal fronts?

et al. 2009

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[1] The formation of eddies along tidal fronts in the shelf seas is investigated through both the analysis of high-resolution conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) data and drifters for the North Sea as well as experiments with an eddy-permitting model. Baroclinic eddies are difficult to observe in the shelf seas due to their small size, and their surface signals are dampened by air-sea interaction and eroded by wind and tidal mixing. High-resolution CTD profiles reveal possible eddy signals along the thermocline where there are intrusions of waters of reduced salinity on the eddy scale. These freshwater intrusions carry low potential vorticity, indicating their origin from the surface mixed layer. An instability analysis of these frontal systems suggests that these eddy signals can be formed by baroclinic instability. Numerical model integrations reveal that mesoscale eddy variability along the thermocline increases in strength in late summer, in accord with the increase in stratification. The stability analysis of the modeled fronts and the scaling of the eddy kinetic energy to the available potential energy are also consistent with baroclinic instability theory. While influencing the eddy variability through the passage of synoptic weather systems, wind energy input is too small to explain the high values of eddy kinetic energy during late summer. These eddy circulations provide localized regions of high vorticity and high stirring, which are important for the transfer of tracers at middepth, such as potential vorticity, salinity, and nutrients.

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“…Office, Bell et al, 2000) and the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM, US Naval Research Laboratory, Barron et al, 2006 Locarnini et al, 2006). The climate data consist of 12 monthly-mean temperature and salinity fields; initial fields are calculated for 1 st January 1998 by averaging the January and December means.…”

Section: Initial and Boundary Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of initial conditions and open boundary conditions on shelf circulation in a 3D ocean-shelf model of the North East Atlantic

2008

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Data from climatology (World Ocean Atlas) and two large scale operational ocean models (Forecasting Ocean Assimilation Model -FOAM, UK Met. Office) and the Navy Coastal Ocean Model -NCOM, US Naval Research Laboratory) are used to give initial and open boundary conditions for a northeast Atlantic implementation of the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Model System (POLCOMS). We study the effects of using the different datasets on the temperature fields and the circulation.On the continental shelf, comparisons of POLCOMS output with AVHRR sea surface temperature data suggest that the effect of using different ocean model initial and boundary conditions is small and that, after 15 months of model time, the impact of the different initial conditions is negligible. Stronger evidence of influence is seen in the deeper oceanic regions of the domain. Volume fluxes through sections governing flow into and out of the North Sea, through the Irish Sea and along the shelf edge show that the impact of the different boundary conditions is small on the shelf but significant elsewhere. These results are contrasted with the use of climatology to assess the value of these Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) ocean model products.

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Assessment of the FOAM global data assimilation system for real-time operational ocean forecasting

Cited by 112 publications

References 33 publications

Modelling temperature and salinity in Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea: sensitivity to model type and surface forcing

Modelling temperature and salinity in Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea: sensitivity to model type and surface forcing

Are mesoscale eddies in shelf seas formed by baroclinic instability of tidal fronts?

The influence of initial conditions and open boundary conditions on shelf circulation in a 3D ocean-shelf model of the North East Atlantic

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