BLUELINK
429
2.
Data and product management
The international marine community shares a common desire to
synthesize and assimilate global, real-time data of winds, ocean temperature,
salinity and sea level. These data are collected by nations participating in the
Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and stream in hourly to shared
data networks. European and US satellite missions and the new wave of
ocean-borne measuring instruments, such as the Argo profiling floats, are the
centerpieces of the ocean observing system. BLUElink has instituted a
sophisticated arrangement for reception, management and quality control of
these data. The Bureau of Meteorology has installed the Meteorological
Archive and Retrieval System (MARS) developed by ECMWF and this will
be used to manage the entire ocean and product data streams for the
operational ocean systems. State-of-the-art information technology will be
deployed to ensure data are provided swiftly to models and to ensure
products are available to participants and the wider community as soon as
possible, e.g. via Live Access Servers. A preliminary web page with some
background information about the project is available at
http://www.marine.csiro.au/bluelink/.
3.
Analysis and modelling systems
Just as zones of high and low pressure drive atmospheric changes and our
weather, similar forces are at work in the ocean. The ocean responds directly
to exchanges of energy with the atmosphere, through wind and surface
heating. However, the ocean also delays its reactions to these forces, to later
generate its own “weather” (ocean eddies) and fronts, as well as longer-term
climate variations such as El Niño. The topography of the sea floor and the
presence of the bordering land also have profound effects on the ocean, in a
way that is unique to the ocean and its coastal subsystems. The BLUElink
ocean models aim to capture key regional ocean currents, such as the East
Australian and Leeuwin Currents, the Indonesian Throughflow and the
Antarctic Circumpolar Current (Fig. 1). All of these currents are subject to
strong short-term variability, which is superimposed to variability on
seasonal and climate change timescales (for further details see Tomczak and
Godfrey, 1994). Furthermore, basin-scale wave dynamics in the Pacific,
Indian and Southern Oceans on seasonal and longer timescales has a direct
impact on regional ocean variability around Australia (Wijffels and Meyers,
2004). All of these features need to be properly simulated in an ocean model
which has a regional focus on the oceans around Australia.
429
2.
Data and product management
The international marine community shares a common desire to
synthesize and assimilate global, real-time data of winds, ocean temperature,
salinity and sea level. These data are collected by nations participating in the
Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and stream in hourly to shared
data networks. European and US satellite missions and the new wave of
ocean-borne measuring instruments, such as the Argo profiling floats, are the
centerpieces of the ocean observing system. BLUElink has instituted a
sophisticated arrangement for reception, management and quality control of
these data. The Bureau of Meteorology has installed the Meteorological
Archive and Retrieval System (MARS) developed by ECMWF and this will
be used to manage the entire ocean and product data streams for the
operational ocean systems. State-of-the-art information technology will be
deployed to ensure data are provided swiftly to models and to ensure
products are available to participants and the wider community as soon as
possible, e.g. via Live Access Servers. A preliminary web page with some
background information about the project is available at
http://www.marine.csiro.au/bluelink/.
3.
Analysis and modelling systems
Just as zones of high and low pressure drive atmospheric changes and our
weather, similar forces are at work in the ocean. The ocean responds directly
to exchanges of energy with the atmosphere, through wind and surface
heating. However, the ocean also delays its reactions to these forces, to later
generate its own “weather” (ocean eddies) and fronts, as well as longer-term
climate variations such as El Niño. The topography of the sea floor and the
presence of the bordering land also have profound effects on the ocean, in a
way that is unique to the ocean and its coastal subsystems. The BLUElink
ocean models aim to capture key regional ocean currents, such as the East
Australian and Leeuwin Currents, the Indonesian Throughflow and the
Antarctic Circumpolar Current (Fig. 1). All of these currents are subject to
strong short-term variability, which is superimposed to variability on
seasonal and climate change timescales (for further details see Tomczak and
Godfrey, 1994). Furthermore, basin-scale wave dynamics in the Pacific,
Indian and Southern Oceans on seasonal and longer timescales has a direct
impact on regional ocean variability around Australia (Wijffels and Meyers,
2004). All of these features need to be properly simulated in an ocean model
which has a regional focus on the oceans around Australia.