382
PIERRE BAHUREL
1.
MERCATOR OCEAN, an assimilation center for
ocean monitoring and forecasting
MERCATOR is the French ocean monitoring and forecasting center.
Objectives are to:
- simulate the global ocean with a primitive-equation high resolution
model, assimilating satellite and in situ data, to provide hindcasts and
near-real time nowcasts and forecasts of the global ocean circulation,
- be operated on an operational mode (ie routine and near-real-time) to
provide continuous and well-assessed global/regional ocean
monitoring and forecasting information
- through a new ocean service, serving (1) Institutional Operational
applications; (2) Research; (3) Private sector Operational Recreational
and Commercial applications and (4) Environment Policy Makers
end-user needs,
The project was launched in 1995 by the six major French agencies
involved in oceanography (namely: Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
(CNES), Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut
Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), Institut de
Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Météo-France, Service
Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine (SHOM), with
involvement of their subsidiaries CLS and CERFACS). The project is lead
today by the MERCATOR OCEAN public company, created in 2002 to
develop this joint operational capacity for global high resolution ocean
monitoring and forecasting, with commitments to prepare transition to an
operational centre.
The MERCATOR OCEAN monitoring and forecasting center is in
Ramonville St Agne near Toulouse (France), with a team of around 50
people gathering the R&D, Integration, Assessment, Operation & Services
requested skills.
Since 2001, the team has been providing weekly ocean bulletins without
any service interruption to a wide range of users, and went through 3 major
releases of the forecasting system. Real-time outputs, as well as validation
reports, are available at http://www.MERCATOR.eu.org.
MERCATOR is a key partner of the international Global Ocean Data
Assimilation Experiment “GODAE” and the European MERSEA project for
operational oceanography.
2.
The MERCATOR OCEAN monitoring and
forecasting system
The MERCATOR system provides a full 3D depiction of the ocean
dynamics and thermohaline circulation (T, S, currents, mixed layer depth,),
with a priority given to high resolution (eddy resolving) scales. Information
PIERRE BAHUREL
1.
MERCATOR OCEAN, an assimilation center for
ocean monitoring and forecasting
MERCATOR is the French ocean monitoring and forecasting center.
Objectives are to:
- simulate the global ocean with a primitive-equation high resolution
model, assimilating satellite and in situ data, to provide hindcasts and
near-real time nowcasts and forecasts of the global ocean circulation,
- be operated on an operational mode (ie routine and near-real-time) to
provide continuous and well-assessed global/regional ocean
monitoring and forecasting information
- through a new ocean service, serving (1) Institutional Operational
applications; (2) Research; (3) Private sector Operational Recreational
and Commercial applications and (4) Environment Policy Makers
end-user needs,
The project was launched in 1995 by the six major French agencies
involved in oceanography (namely: Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
(CNES), Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut
Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), Institut de
Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Météo-France, Service
Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine (SHOM), with
involvement of their subsidiaries CLS and CERFACS). The project is lead
today by the MERCATOR OCEAN public company, created in 2002 to
develop this joint operational capacity for global high resolution ocean
monitoring and forecasting, with commitments to prepare transition to an
operational centre.
The MERCATOR OCEAN monitoring and forecasting center is in
Ramonville St Agne near Toulouse (France), with a team of around 50
people gathering the R&D, Integration, Assessment, Operation & Services
requested skills.
Since 2001, the team has been providing weekly ocean bulletins without
any service interruption to a wide range of users, and went through 3 major
releases of the forecasting system. Real-time outputs, as well as validation
reports, are available at http://www.MERCATOR.eu.org.
MERCATOR is a key partner of the international Global Ocean Data
Assimilation Experiment “GODAE” and the European MERSEA project for
operational oceanography.
2.
The MERCATOR OCEAN monitoring and
forecasting system
The MERCATOR system provides a full 3D depiction of the ocean
dynamics and thermohaline circulation (T, S, currents, mixed layer depth,),
with a priority given to high resolution (eddy resolving) scales. Information