The impact of a new high-resolution ocean model on the Met Office North-West European Shelf forecasting system

Abstract

Abstract. The North-West European Shelf ocean forecasting system has been providing oceanographic products for the European continental shelf seas for more than 15 years. In that time, several different configurations have been implemented, updating the model and the data assimilation components. The latest configuration to be put in operation, an eddy-resolving model at 1.5 km (AMM15), replaces the 7 km model (AMM7) that has been used for 8 years to deliver forecast products to the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service and its precursor projects. This has improved the ability to resolve the mesoscale variability in this area. An overview of this new system and its initial validation is provided in this paper, highlighting the differences with the previous version. Validation of the model with data assimilation is based on the results of 2 years (2016–2017) of trial experiments run with the low- and high-resolution systems in their operational configuration. The 1.5 km system has been validated against observations and the low-resolution system, trying to understand the impact of the high resolution on the quality of the products delivered to the users. Although the number of observations is a limiting factor, especially for the assessment of model variables like currents and salinity, the new system has been proven to be an improvement in resolving fine-scale structures and variability and provides more accurate information on the major physical variables, like temperature, salinity, and horizontal currents. AMM15 improvements are evident from the validation against high-resolution observations, available in some selected areas of the model domain. However, validation at the basin scale and using daily means penalized the high-resolution system and does not reflect its superior performance. This increment in resolution also improves the capabilities to provide marine information closer to the coast even if the coastal processes are not fully resolved by the model.

Interactions between barotropic tides and mesoscale processes in deep ocean and shelf regions

“…Tchilibou et al (2018) performed a similar analysis to what is presented here; however, their study was restricted to the equatorial ocean. Graham et al (2018a) and Tonani et al (2019) developed a very fineresolution model (1.5 km) for the ENWS area. This model was considered as the next-generation ocean forecast model for the ENWS and is used in operational forecasting.…”

Non-linear aspects of the tidal dynamics in the Sylt-Rømø Bight, south-eastern North Sea

“…The observed profiles of the water currents gathered on five cruises of the RV Mya II can be found in the PANGAEA database (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.894070; de Luca Lopes de Amorim et al, 2018). The tidal open boundary conditions can be downloaded from TPXO (https://www.tpxo.net/global; TPXO database, 2019; Egbert and Erofeeva, 2002), AVISO (https://www.aviso.altimetry.fr/en/data/products/ auxiliary-products/global-tide-fes/description-fes2014.html; AVISO database, 2019; Carrere et al, 2016) and Copernicus Marine databases (http://marine.copernicus.eu/services-portfolio/ access-to-products/?option=com_csw&view=details&product_id= NORTHWESTSHELF_ANALYSIS_FORECAST_PHY_004_013; Copernicus Marine Database, 2019; Tonani et al, 2019). The tide gauge data for the area can be downloaded from the EMODnet database (http://www.emodnet-physics.eu/Map/; EMODnet physics database, 2019).…”

“…We relied on four sources for the open-boundary conditions of the tidal elevation: TPXO 8.1 and 9 (TPXO database, 2019; Egbert et al, 2002); the output of NEMO (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean; Gurvan et al, 2017) simulations for the north-west European Shelf (Copernicus Marine Database, 2019; Tonani et al, 2019); and FES2014 (Finite Element Solution 2014; AVISO database, 2019; Carrere et al, 2016).…”

Low Computational Cost Model for Convective Heat Transfer From Submarine Cables

“…Where seasonal thermal stratification occurs, or there is no in situ data a series of publically available ocean models are available (e.g. the MetOffice AMM15 model of the NW European Shelf [10]).…”