372 N adia Pinardi et al.
future lead to optimal set of initial and open boundary conditions for the ASHELF
forecasting.
12
'2
15
10
,o
10
e
~
l6
l6
~
o
~
1=
- 5
-5
-10
-15
20
40
60
80
100
120
Distante (km)
Fig. 17.11 Hindcast results for the ASHELF domain (1.5-krn resolution) with and without
tangent linear model initialization. The section location is indicated in Fig. 17.10. Initial and
lateral boundary conditions are taken from the AREG model (5-krn resolution) starting from
May 1, 1995. The sea level time evolution is shown for 12 hours along a section in the
Northern Adriatic basin in the ASHELF model. Contour interval is 2 cm. The initial and
lateral boundary conditions are obtained from the coarse resolution fields of AREG with
standard interpolation (left panel), 3D variational initialization (right panel) based on the
tangent linear model. The white dashed lines are the characteristic lines for the external
gravity waves, they are tangent at each point to JiH , H being the local topography.
The fifth element of the Northem Adriatic environmental prediction system is
the ecosystem model that could simulate the dynamics of the primary producers for
the region. The ecosystem model described in the previous section has been implemented in the coastal area ofthe Northem Adriatic, in particular at the SI station of
Fig. 17.8. At the moment, the model is one-dimensional and only the phase of calibration and validation has started. In the past five years, a very comprehensive set
of observations has been collected at this site, from dissolved nutrient profiles to