Forecast Skill Score Assessment of a Relocatable Ocean Prediction System, Using a Simplified Objective Analysis Method

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Forecast Skill Score Assessment of a Relocatable Ocean Prediction System, Using a Simplified Objective Analysis Method Ocean Sci., 13, 925–945, 2017 https://doi.org/10.5194/os-13-925-2017 © Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Forecast skill score assessment of a relocatable ocean prediction system, using a simplified objective analysis method Reiner Onken Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG), Max-Planck-Straße 1, 21502 Geesthacht, Germany Correspondence to: Reiner Onken ([email protected]) Received: 5 May 2017 – Discussion started: 23 May 2017 Revised: 26 September 2017 – Accepted: 9 October 2017 – Published: 20 November 2017 Abstract. A relocatable ocean prediction system (ROPS) 1 Introduction was employed to an observational data set which was col- lected in June 2014 in the waters to the west of Sardinia A relocatable ocean prediction system (ROPS) is presented (western Mediterranean) in the framework of the REP14- which enables rapid nowcasts and forecasts of ocean envi- MED experiment. The observational data, comprising more ronmental parameters in limited regions. In this study, ROPS than 6000 temperature and salinity profiles from a fleet of was implemented for the waters west of Sardinia (western underwater gliders and shipborne probes, were assimilated Mediterranean Sea) within the framework of the REP14- in the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), which is MED experiment (Onken et al., 2014, 2018). the heart of ROPS, and verified against independent observa- The major components of ocean operational systems are tions from ScanFish tows by means of the forecast skill score observations and ocean circulation models coupled with data as defined by Murphy(1993). A simplified objective analy- assimilation systems, to combine the observations with dy- sis (OA) method was utilised for assimilation, taking account namics and issue nowcasts and forecasts which are deliv- of only those profiles which were located within a predeter- ered to the customers. While systems on the global scale mined time window W. As a result of a sensitivity study, are utilised to provide estimates on large-scale circulation the highest skill score was obtained for a correlation length patterns and associated features, regional operational sys- scale C D 12:5 km, W D 24 h, and r D 1, where r is the ratio tems are focused more on societally relevant oceanographic between the error of the observations and the background er- information for, e.g., search and rescue operations, pollu- ror, both for temperature and salinity. Additional ROPS runs tant dispersal, fishery management (Edwards et al., 2015), showed that (i) the skill score of assimilation runs was mostly and military applications. Meanwhile, a number of real-time higher than the score of a control run without assimilation, (i) ocean operational systems are available, spanning the scales the skill score increased with increasing forecast range, and of ocean horizontal circulation patterns from global to coastal (iii) the skill score for temperature was higher than the score (Dombrowsky, 2011; Zhu, 2011). for salinity in the majority of cases. Further on, it is demon- ROPS was developed for military use in the context of strated that the vast number of observations can be managed rapid environmental assessment but it can easily be adapted by the applied OA method without data reduction, enabling to non-military demands. For maritime forces, there is a spe- timely operational forecasts even on a commercially avail- cial need for relocatable operational systems which can be able personal computer or a laptop. moved in any (potential) conflict area in the world ocean on short notice. As in the majority of cases conflict areas are re- gionally limited, the domains of the operational systems must be tailored to the corresponding regions which means that their horizontal extent should be of the order of 100 km. Con- sequently, the domains share always a wet (open) boundary with the open ocean. Relocatable operational systems based Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 926 R. Onken: ROMS OA on the Harvard Ocean Prediction System (HOPS; Robinson, model initialisation, boundary conditions, and a huge set of 1999) may be considered as the pioneering work in this sub- observational data for assimilation are available on the local ject. They became available since the late 1990s, and have computer system and a download from the internet is not re- been applied in various regional studies up to the present quired. The objectives are to demonstrate the following: (De Dominics, 2014). Another line of research based on the Naval Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM; Martin, 2000) can be – Good forecasts can be obtained from a prediction sys- traced back to the first decade of the present century (Row- tem using OA for assimilation (for the definition of ley and Mask, 2014), and recently, Trotta et al.(2016) pre- “goodness”, see Murphy, 1993). sented and compared the performance of a relocatable pre- – A vast number of observational data can be managed by diction system, using structured and unstructured grids. The OA without data reduction by averaging, sub-sampling, common properties and minimum requirements of any such or creating “super observations” (Lorenc, 1981; Moore system are as follows: et al., 2011b; Oke et al., 2015). – a tool for setup of the model domain, including the spec- – ification of the numerical grid, the bathymetry, and the ROPS is able to provide timely operational forecasts coastline; even on a commercially available personal computer or a laptop. – interfaces for definition of initial, lateral, and surface boundary conditions; The area of the ROPS model domain (Fig.2) is charac- terised by a 20–50 km wide continental shelf. The shelf ends – a numerical model; at water depths between 150 and 200 m, followed by the con- tinental slope which features several canyons. The deep-sea – an interface for the provision of observational data; area belongs to the northern Algerian Basin (also referred to as the Sardo-Balearic Basin) and exhibits water depths of up – a data assimilation module; to 2800 m. According to Millot(1999), the mean surface cir- – software for post-processing of the model output. culation is mainly related to the inflow of “new” Modified Atlantic Water (MAW) from the Strait of Gibraltar by means An additional demand for relocatable operational systems is of anticyclonic eddies originating from the Algerian Current. to provide accurate nowcasts and forecasts of the ocean en- Another branch of “old” MAW, which mixed with the un- vironment in a timely manner, i.e. in near-real time. How- derlying water masses on its large-scale cyclonic circulation ever, the requirements of accuracy and timeliness are incon- through the Tyrrhenian, Ligurian, and Balearic seas, comes sistent with one another: accuracy requires the application of probably from the west via the Balearic Current (García et up-to-date assimilation schemes which presently are ensem- al., 1996). Just below the MAW, Winter Intermediate Water ble or variational methods. As the implementation of these (WIW) follows the path of the MAW along its whole cy- schemes is rather complex and they are computationally ex- clonic path. Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) originates pensive (Zaron, 2011), timely delivery can only be realised from the eastern Mediterranean and the direct path to the on powerful computers which are frequently not available. ROPS domain is via the Sardinia Channel and then north- As a compromise, sequential data assimilation based on ob- ward around the southern tip of Sardinia. Below the LIW, jective analysis (OA; Bretherton et al., 1976; Thomson and Western Mediterranean Deep Water (WMDW) and Bottom Emery, 2014) is used in ROPS. OA is not as accurate as the Water (BW) are found. ensemble Kalman filter (Evensen, 2006) or 4D-Var (Moore From analyses of the REP14-MED observational data set, et al., 2011a,b), but the computational costs are much less it turned out that the distribution of the water masses and the and the implementation is straightforward. circulation patterns resembled the classical picture described Meanwhile, ROPS has been implemented for various re- above, but there were also significant differences. Accord- gions in the world ocean, and has been running automatically ing to Knoll et al.(2017), the temperature and salinity of without any major interruptions since early 2015. The con- MAW, LIW, and BW had increased compared to the obser- cept (Fig.1) for all realisations is identical: every day, ROPS vations during the last decade. In addition, an anticyclonic is initialised from a restart file of the previous day’s run, and WIW eddy with unusual low temperatures and salinities was it provides a 3-day forecast relative to the present. For each identified which may confirm the existence of a direct route run, data sets for the definition of initial and boundary condi- of WIW from its formation region to the observational site. tions plus observational data for assimilation are downloaded In contrast to previous observations, LIW occupied the whole from the internet, in which the initial conditions are only re- trial area and the predominant direction of the geostrophic quired for re-initialisation of ROPS in the case that it died the flow was to the north with the largest transports in the deep day before. water off the 1000 m depth contour; no LIW vein tied closely For this article, ROPS is slightly modified: it is run in hind- to the Sardinian coast was found south of 40◦ N. The MAW cast mode for a period of time in June 2014. All data for pattern was different: namely, the major northward transport Ocean Sci., 13, 925–945, 2017 www.ocean-sci.net/13/925/2017/ R. Onken: ROMS OA 927 Figure 1. The ROPS concept: web resources are depicted by clouds, blue parallelograms represent data sets on the local host, and processes are indicated by green rectangles.
Recommended publications
  • Ocean Circulation Models and Modeling
    2512-5 Fundamentals of Ocean Climate Modelling at Global and Regional Scales (Hyderabad - India) 5 - 14 August 2013 Ocean Circulation Models and Modeling GRIFFIES Stephen Princeton University U.S. Department of Commerce N.O.A.A., Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, 201 Forrestal Road, Forrestal Campus P.O. Box 308, 08542-6649 Princeton NJ U.S.A. 5.1: Ocean Circulation Models and Modeling Stephen.Griffi[email protected] NOAA/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Princeton, USA [email protected] Laboratoire de Physique des Oceans,´ LPO Brest, France Draft from May 24, 2013 1 5.1.1. Scope of this chapter 2 We focus in this chapter on numerical models used to understand and predict large- 3 scale ocean circulation, such as the circulation comprising basin and global scales. It 4 is organized according to two themes, which we consider the “pillars” of numerical 5 oceanography. The first addresses physical and numerical topics forming a foundation 6 for ocean models. We focus here on the science of ocean models, in which we ask 7 questions about fundamental processes and develop the mathematical equations for 8 ocean thermo-hydrodynamics. We also touch upon various methods used to represent 9 the continuum ocean fluid with a discrete computer model, raising such topics as the 10 finite volume formulation of the ocean equations; the choice for vertical coordinate; 11 the complementary issues related to horizontal gridding; and the pervasive questions 12 of subgrid scale parameterizations. The second theme of this chapter concerns the 13 applications of ocean models, in particular how to design an experiment and how to 14 analyze results.
    [Show full text]
  • Assimila Blank
    NERC NERC Strategy for Earth System Modelling: Technical Support Audit Report Version 1.1 December 2009 Contact Details Dr Zofia Stott Assimila Ltd 1 Earley Gate The University of Reading Reading, RG6 6AT Tel: +44 (0)118 966 0554 Mobile: +44 (0)7932 565822 email: [email protected] NERC STRATEGY FOR ESM – AUDIT REPORT VERSION1.1, DECEMBER 2009 Contents 1. BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 4 1.2 Context .................................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Scope of the ESM audit ............................................................................................ 4 1.4 Methodology ............................................................................................................ 5 2. Scene setting ........................................................................................................................... 7 2.1 NERC Strategy......................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Definition of Earth system modelling ........................................................................ 8 2.3 Broad categories of activities supported by NERC ................................................. 10 2.4 Structure of the report ...........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Executive Summary Workshop on Improving ALE Ocean Modeling NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction College Park, MD October 3-4, 2016
    Executive Summary Workshop on Improving ALE Ocean Modeling NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction College Park, MD October 3-4, 2016 A one-and-a-half-day workshop on ocean models that employ the ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian) method to permit general vertical coordinates was held at NCWCP on October 3-4, 2016. Four different ALE models (GO2, HYCOM, MOM6, and MPAS-Ocean) were discussed. Workshop participants included users and developers of these models, from academia and from seven different national modeling centers (ESRL, GFDL, GISS, LANL, NCAR, NCEP, NRL). A more detailed report on the workshop follows this executive summary, and a workshop agenda with a list of workshop speakers is attached as an appendix. A number of recommendations for future action were developed during the meeting. The recommendations fall into four broad categories: Code Sharing, Community Building, Code Merger and Performance and Future Development. The recommendations are listed below. 1. Code Sharing Sharing of common codes for the equation of state, grid generation and remapping, and column physics such as mixing parameterizations, is recommended. The group suggested making vertical remapping/grid generator routines an open source package that can be shared in the manner of CVMix. a. The development of prognostic equations for the grid generator based upon physical mixing should be considered. b. We recommend open-source GIT repositories (hosted on code-sharing sites such as Github) for submodules such as CVMix. c. We recommend the development of common tests for self-consistency, conservation, and known solutions. 2. Community Building d. The ALE modeling group should consider whether semi-regular meetings similar to this workshop should be undertaken; perhaps via merger/inclusion with the Layered Ocean Model workshop.
    [Show full text]
  • Challenges and Prospects in Ocean Circulation Models
    Challenges and Prospects in Ocean Circulation Models The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Citation Fox-Kemper, Baylor, et al. “Challenges and Prospects in Ocean Circulation Models.” Frontiers in Marine Science 6 (February 2019): 65. © The Authors As Published http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00065 Publisher Frontiers Media SA Version Final published version Citable link https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/125142 Terms of Use Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license Detailed Terms https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ REVIEW published: 26 February 2019 doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00065 Challenges and Prospects in Ocean Circulation Models Baylor Fox-Kemper 1*, Alistair Adcroft 2,3, Claus W. Böning 4, Eric P. Chassignet 5, Enrique Curchitser 6, Gokhan Danabasoglu 7, Carsten Eden 8, Matthew H. England 9, Rüdiger Gerdes 10,11, Richard J. Greatbatch 4, Stephen M. Griffies 2,3, Robert W. Hallberg 2,3, Emmanuel Hanert 12, Patrick Heimbach 13, Helene T. Hewitt 14, Christopher N. Hill 15, Yoshiki Komuro 16, Sonya Legg 2,3, Julien Le Sommer 17, Simona Masina 18, Simon J. Marsland 9,19,20, Stephen G. Penny 21,22,23, Fangli Qiao 24, Todd D. Ringler 25, Anne Marie Treguier 26, Hiroyuki Tsujino 27, Petteri Uotila 28 and Stephen G. Yeager 7 1 Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States, 2 Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States, 3 NOAA Geophysical
    [Show full text]
  • North Atlantic Simulations in Coordinated Ocean-Ice Reference
    Ocean Modelling Archimer January 204, Volume 73, Pages 76–107 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2013.10.005 http://archimer.ifremer.fr © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. North Atlantic simulations in Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference is available on the publisher Web site Web publisher the on available is Experiments phase II (CORE-II). Part I: Mean states Gokhan Danabasoglua, *, Steve G. Yeagera, David Baileya, Erik Behrensb, Mats Bentsenc, Daohua Bid, Arne Biastochb, Claus Böningb, Alexandra Bozece, Vittorio M. Canutof, Christophe Cassoug, Eric Chassignete, Andrew C. Cowardh, Sergey Danilovi, Nikolay Dianskyj, Helge Drangek, Riccardo Farnetil, Elodie Fernandezg, Pier Giuseppe Foglim, Gael Forgetn, Yosuke Fujiio, authenticated version authenticated - Stephen M. Griffiesp, Anatoly Gusevj, Patrick Heimbachn, Armando Howardf, q, Thomas Jungi, Maxwell Kelleyf, William G. Largea, Anthony Leboissetierf, Jianhua Lue, Gurvan Madecr, Simon J. Marslandd, Simona Masinam, s, Antonio Navarram, s, A.J. George Nurserh, Anna Piranit, David Salas y Méliau, Bonita L. Samuelsp, Markus Scheinertb, Dmitry Sidorenkoi, Anne-Marie Treguierv, Hiroyuki Tsujinoo, Petteri Uotilad, Sophie Valckeg, Aurore Voldoireu, Qiang Wangi a National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO, USA b Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research, GEOMAR, Kiel, Germany c Uni Climate, Uni Research Ltd., Bergen, Norway d Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, a partnership between CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
    [Show full text]
  • Volume and Heat Transports in the World Oceans from an Ocean General Circulation Model
    “main” — 2009/11/10 — 21:05 — page 181 — #1 Revista Brasileira de Geof´ısica (2009) 27(2): 181-194 © 2009 Sociedade Brasileira de Geof´ısica ISSN 0102-261X www.scielo.br/rbg VOLUME AND HEAT TRANSPORTS IN THE WORLD OCEANS FROM AN OCEAN GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL Luiz Paulo de Freitas Assad1, Audalio Rebelo Torres Junior2, Wilton Zumpichiatti Arruda3, Affonso da Silveira Mascarenhas Junior4 and Luiz Landau5 Recebido em 29 setembro, 2008 / Aceito em 9 junho, 2009 Received on September 29, 2008 / Accepted on June 9, 2009 ABSTRACT. Monitoring the volume and heat transports around the world oceans is of fundamental importance in the study of the climate system, its variability, and possible changes. The application of an Oceanic General Circulation Model for climatic studies needs that its dynamic and thermodynamic fields are in equilibrium. The time spent by the model to reach this equilibrium is called spin-up time. This work presents some results obtained from the application of the Modular Ocean Model version 4.0 initialized with temperature, salinity, velocity and sea surface height data already in equilibrium from an ocean data assimilation experiment conducted by Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). The use of this dataset as initial condition aimed to diminish the spin-up time of the oceanic model. The model was integrated for seven years. Volume and heat transports in different sections around the world oceans showed to be in good agreement with the literature. The results showed a well defined seasonal cycle starting at the second integration year, also some important dynamic and thermodynamic aspects of the Global Ocean Circulation, as the great conveyor belt, are well reproduced.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Approach to the Spin-Up Problem in Ocean–Climate Models ISBN 978-90-39354414 Copyright C 2010 Erik Bernsen, the Netherlands
    A New Approach to the Spin-up Problem in Ocean–Climate Models ISBN 978-90-39354414 Copyright c 2010 Erik Bernsen, The Netherlands Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU) Faculty of Science, Department of Physics and Astronomy Utrecht University, The Netherlands Cover: The pattern in the background is inspired by the sparsity pattern of the Jacobian matrix of the Modular Ocean Model Version 4, as used in Chapter 5 of this thesis. A New Approach to the Spin-up Problem in Ocean–Climate Models Een Nieuwe Aanpak van het Spin-up Probleem in Oceaan–Klimaat Modellen (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. J.C. Stoof, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 8 december 2010 des middags te 2.30 uur door Erik Bernsen geboren op 6 januari 1976 te Almelo Promotor: Prof.dr.ir. H.A. Dijkstra Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 TheSpin-upProblem .............................. 2 1.2 ReducingtheSpin-upTime. 6 1.3 ThisThesis ................................... 8 2 JFNKMethodforaPlanetaryGeostrophicOceanModel 11 2.1 Introduction................................... 11 2.2 TheJFNKMethod ............................... 12 2.3 TestCase .................................... 13 2.3.1 PlanetaryGeostrophicModel . 14 2.3.2 Preconditioner ............................. 16 2.4 Results...................................... 17 2.5 Summary,DiscussionandConclusion . .... 22 3 Bifurcation Analysis of wind-driven Flows with the Version 4 of the Modular Ocean Model 25 3.1 Introduction................................... 25 3.2 TheModularOceanModelVersion4 . 27 3.3 MethodandImplementation . 29 3.3.1 ResidualofMOM4........................... 29 3.3.2 Preconditioner ............................. 32 3.4 Results.....................................
    [Show full text]
  • Retrospective ENSO Forecasts: Sensitivity to Atmospheric Model and Ocean Resolution
    3038 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW VOLUME 131 Retrospective ENSO Forecasts: Sensitivity to Atmospheric Model and Ocean Resolution EDWIN K. SCHNEIDER,* DAVID G. DEWITT,1 ANTHONY ROSATI,# BEN P. K IRTMAN,* LINK JI,@ AND JOSEPH J. TRIBBIA& *George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, and Center for Ocean±Land±Atmosphere Studies, Calverton, Maryland 1International Research Institute for Climate Prediction, Palisades, New York #NOAA, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey @Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas &National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado (Manuscript received 19 September 2002, in ®nal form 16 June 2003) ABSTRACT Results are described from a series of 40 retrospective forecasts of tropical Paci®c SST, starting 1 January and 1 July 1980±99, performed with several coupled ocean±atmosphere general circulation models sharing the same ocean modelÐthe Modular Ocean Model version 3 (MOM3) OGCMÐand the same initial conditions. The atmospheric components of the coupled models were the Center for Ocean±Land±Atmosphere Studies (COLA), ECHAM, and Community Climate Model version 3 (CCM3) models at T42 horizontal resolution, and no empirical corrections were applied to the coupling. Additionally, the retrospective forecasts using the COLA and ECHAM atmospheric models were carried out with two resolutions of the OGCM. The high-resolution version of the OGCM had 18 horizontal resolution (1/38 meridional resolution near the equator) and 40 levels in the vertical, while the lower-resolution version had 1.58 horizontal resolution (1/28 meridional resolution near the equator) and 25 levels. The initial states were taken from an ocean data assimilation performed by the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) using the high-resolution OGCM.
    [Show full text]
  • Coastal Ocean Model Coupling Applications at the NOAA National Ocean Service: Future Plans and Recentadvances
    Coastal Ocean Model Coupling Applications at the NOAA National Ocean Service: Future Plans and RecentAdvances Saeed Moghimi , NOAA/UCAR, Saeed Moghimi1, Edward Myers1, Sergey Vinogradov1, Andre Van der Westhuysen2, Beheen Trimble2, Ali Abdolali2, Jaime Calzada1, Yuji Funakoshi1, Panagiotis Velissariou1, Joannes Westerink3, Damrongsak Wirasaet3, Maria Teresa Contreras-Vargas3, William Pringle3, Joseph Zhang4, Fei Ye4, Wei Huang4, Kendra Dresback5, Christine Szpilka5, Changsheng Chen6, Jianhua Qi6, Ayumi Fujisaki7,8, Rocky Dunlap8, Patrick Burke1, Derrick Snowden1, Shachak Pe’eri1 1 NOAA/NOS;2 NOAA/NWS; 3 University of Notre Dame; 4 Virginia Institute of Marine Science; 5 University of Oklahoma; 6 University of Massachusetts– Dartmouth; 7 Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory; 8 Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research at University of Michigan; 9 ESMF/ NUOPC Development Team; NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; NOS: National Ocean Service; NWS: National Weather Service; ESMF: Earth System Modeling Framework; NUOPC: National Unified Operational Prediction Capability NOAA/NOS’ Office of Coast Survey 1 Coastal ocean models coupling framework Wave Model • Disaster mitigation Numerical Weather Coastal Ocean • Navigation Product Model Model • Water Quality EndUser • Sediment Transport Example Products • Maps and Visualizations Inland Hydrology • Ensembles, Probabilities Model • Product Uncertainties • Wave Conditions NOAA/NOS’ Office of Coast Survey NOS’ next generation high fidelity coastal ocean model (5~10
    [Show full text]
  • An Application to Ocean Modelling
    * Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript: paper_rev_final.tex Web-enabled Configuration and Control of Legacy Codes: an Application to Ocean Modelling ∗ C. Evangelinos a, , P.F.J. Lermusiaux b,S.K.Geigera, R.C. Chang a,N.M.Patrikalakisa aDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA bDivision of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Abstract For modern interdisciplinary ocean prediction and assimilation systems, a sig- nificant part of the complexity facing users is the very large number of possible setups and parameters, both at build-time and at run-time, especially for the core physical, biological and acoustical ocean predictive models. The configuration of these modeling systems for both local as well as remote execution can be a daunt- ing and error-prone task in the absence of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and of software that automatically controls the adequacy and compatibility of options and parameters. We propose to encapsulate the configurability and requirements of ocean prediction codes using an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) based descrip- tion, thereby creating new computer-readable manuals for the executable binaries. These manuals allow us to generate a GUI, check for correctness of compilation and input parameters, and finally drive execution of the prediction system components, all in an automated and transparent manner. This web-enabled configuration and automated control software has been developed (it is currently in “beta” form) and exemplified for components of the interdisciplinary Harvard Ocean Prediction Sys- tem (HOPS) and for the uncertainty prediction components of the Error Subspace Statistical Estimation (ESSE) system.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fidelity of NCEP CFS Seasonal Hindcasts Over Nordeste
    618 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW VOLUME 135 The Fidelity of NCEP CFS Seasonal Hindcasts over Nordeste VASUBANDHU MISRA Center for Ocean–Land–Atmosphere Studies, Institute of Global Environment and Society, Inc., Calverton, Maryland YUNING ZHANG Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland (Manuscript received 19 December 2005, in final form 8 May 2006) ABSTRACT The fidelity of the interannual variability of precipitation over Nordeste is examined using the suite of the NCEP Climate Forecast System (CFS) seasonal hindcasts. These are coupled ocean–land–atmosphere multiseasonal integrations. It is shown that the Nordeste rainfall variability in the season of February–April has relatively low skill in the CFS seasonal hindcasts. Although Nordeste is a comparatively small region in the northeast of Brazil, the analysis indicates that the model has a large-scale error in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. The CFS exhibits a widespread El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) forcing over the tropical Atlantic Ocean. As a consequence of this remote ENSO forcing, the CFS builds an erroneous meridional SST gradient in the tropical Atlantic that is known from observations to be a critical forcing for the rainfall variability over Nordeste. 1. Introduction tenrath and Heller 1977) have shown that tropical sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) over the Atlantic Nordeste or Northeast Brazil (Fig. 1) has been noted and the eastern Pacific Ocean modulates the Nordeste by many authors to be a region of high seasonal climate seasonal rainfall variability. More recently, with inno- predictability (Misra 2006, 2004; Sun et al. 2005; Moura vative modeling experiments, Giannini et al. (2001), Sa- and Hastenrath 2004; Folland et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Ocean Modeling I Ocean Modeling Basics and CESM Ocean Models
    Ocean Modeling I Ocean Modeling Basics and CESM Ocean Models Gustavo Marques ([email protected]) Oceanography Section Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory National Center for Atmospheric Research August 7th, 2019 This material is based upon work supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which is a major facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. 1852977. Outline 1) General ocean modelling considerations • Challenges for ocean modeling • Ocean properties 2) Parallel Ocean Program version 2 (POP2) • Governing equations • Boundary conditions • Ocean model grid • Estuary Box model parameterization • Advection schemes • New to CESM2 3) Modular Ocean Model version 6 (MOM6) • Brief overview • Where we are going Ocean Modeling Challenges: irregular domain 1st order challenges from a numerical perspective: • Highly irregular domain; land boundary exerts strong control on ocean dynamics. Ocean Modeling Challenges: Spatial vs. Temporal Scales Ocean Atmosphere LOW-RES, dx = 3o WORKHORSE, dx = 1o HI-RES, dx = 0.1o WORKHORSE, dx = 1o From Alistair Adcroft • Ocean models simulate the climate • ATM. models simulate the weather Ocean Modeling Challenges: Spatial Scales • Mixing associated with sub-gridscale turbulence must be parameterized. Ocean Modeling Challenges: Eddy-Resolving Scales • The density change from top to bottom is much smaller than the atmosphere. This makes the Rossby radius (Rd) much smaller – 100s to 10s km; NH R = d ⇡f From Hallberg (2013) Ocean Modeling Challenges: Equilibration Timescale • Extremely small mixing across density surfaces once water masses are buried below the mixed layer base. This is why water masses can be named and followed around the ocean; • Scaling argument for deep adjustment time: H2/Kv = (4000 m)2 / (2 x 10-5 m2/s) = 20,000 years • Dynamical adjustment timescale: Phase speed of non-dispersive long Rossby waves, C = βR2 R − d Approximate time taken to cross the Pacific Ocean at mid-latitudes: L/CR = (15 x 103 km) / (20 km/day) = 750 days ~ 2 years.
    [Show full text]