568
boundary layer processes. The capabilities and skill of modern coastal ocean
models, and the formulation of these models for hind-cast and forecast
systems were presented by example.
As the CBLAST example shows, regional ocean models can now have
the spatial resolution and numerical accuracy to capture the dominant
features of the coastal ocean heat budget on short time scales in a region
with strong tides, vertical stratification and significantly heterogeneous 3dimensional mesoscale circulation in a complicated spatial domain of
islands, channels and rough bathymetry.
The availability of high resolution surface meteorological forcing data, in
real-time, opens opportunities for implementing ocean models as an
integrated component of the burgeoning network of coastal observatories.
Preliminary experience with the LATTE Pilot Program in 2004 showed that
a straightforward configuration of ROMS for a limited area of the New York
Bight had the ability to forecast qualitative features of the variability of
Hudson River plume as is entered the shelf ocean.
In these examples an ocean model was used over a short time period as a
forecast tool to complement the operation of a coastal observatory. The
models clearly have the capability to become operational oceanographic
forecast systems. More significantly, analysis of the CBLAST model was
able to quantify the contributions of different terms in the local heat budget,
and separate the roles of tides and winds in driving the regional mean
circulation. Thus within the framework of a model with realistic bathymetry
and forcing, the selective removal of individual forcing terms represent an
application more akin to an idealized process-oriented study. By modeling
Lagrangian pathways of simulated particles, or the dispersion of river runoff,
in situ data can be placed in a broader geographic context, aiding the
interpretation of data from coastal observing systems. In these ways, coastal
ocean models contribute to exploring conceptual ideas and hypotheses
regarding coastal ocean processes.
Acknowledgements
We thank M. Adani, F. Castruccio, M. Goes, R. Helber and D. Prosperi
for helpful comments on the manuscript. This research is funded by U.S.
Office of Naval Research grant N00014-04-1-0383 and National Science
Foundation CoOP grant OCE-02-38957. The ROMS model development is
funded by ONR grant N00014-1-0227. Computational resources were
provided by the DOD High Performance Computing Modernization
Program.
JOHN L. WILKIN AND LYON LANEROLLE
boundary layer processes. The capabilities and skill of modern coastal ocean
models, and the formulation of these models for hind-cast and forecast
systems were presented by example.
As the CBLAST example shows, regional ocean models can now have
the spatial resolution and numerical accuracy to capture the dominant
features of the coastal ocean heat budget on short time scales in a region
with strong tides, vertical stratification and significantly heterogeneous 3dimensional mesoscale circulation in a complicated spatial domain of
islands, channels and rough bathymetry.
The availability of high resolution surface meteorological forcing data, in
real-time, opens opportunities for implementing ocean models as an
integrated component of the burgeoning network of coastal observatories.
Preliminary experience with the LATTE Pilot Program in 2004 showed that
a straightforward configuration of ROMS for a limited area of the New York
Bight had the ability to forecast qualitative features of the variability of
Hudson River plume as is entered the shelf ocean.
In these examples an ocean model was used over a short time period as a
forecast tool to complement the operation of a coastal observatory. The
models clearly have the capability to become operational oceanographic
forecast systems. More significantly, analysis of the CBLAST model was
able to quantify the contributions of different terms in the local heat budget,
and separate the roles of tides and winds in driving the regional mean
circulation. Thus within the framework of a model with realistic bathymetry
and forcing, the selective removal of individual forcing terms represent an
application more akin to an idealized process-oriented study. By modeling
Lagrangian pathways of simulated particles, or the dispersion of river runoff,
in situ data can be placed in a broader geographic context, aiding the
interpretation of data from coastal observing systems. In these ways, coastal
ocean models contribute to exploring conceptual ideas and hypotheses
regarding coastal ocean processes.
Acknowledgements
We thank M. Adani, F. Castruccio, M. Goes, R. Helber and D. Prosperi
for helpful comments on the manuscript. This research is funded by U.S.
Office of Naval Research grant N00014-04-1-0383 and National Science
Foundation CoOP grant OCE-02-38957. The ROMS model development is
funded by ONR grant N00014-1-0227. Computational resources were
provided by the DOD High Performance Computing Modernization
Program.
JOHN L. WILKIN AND LYON LANEROLLE