HR: 16:15h
AN: OS54B-02 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Insights From a Coordinated Observing and Modeling System for the West Florida Shelf
AU: * Weisberg, R H
EM: weisberg@marine.usf.edu
AF: College of Marine Science University of South Florida, 140 7th Ave. S., St. Petersburg, FL 33701 United States
AB: A coordinated coastal ocean observing and modeling program is ongoing on the west Florida continental shelf. This Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System (COMPS) combines academic (USF) resources with those of federal and state agencies to increase the data and model product availability to all potential users (see http://comps.marine.usf.edu). Private sector interactions are also being sought. COMPS is a partner in the Southeast Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing System (SEACOOS) that includes the states of NC, SC, GA, and FL (see http://www.seacoos.org). As nascent observing systems our goals are to provide data and model products of societal benefit across a broad range of applications. Since the coastal ocean responds to local atmosphere forcing through momentum and buoyancy fluxes and deep-ocean forcing through adjacent boundary current interactions, specifications of the state of the coastal ocean are dependent on specifications of these forcing fields. Following a brief description of the COMPS observations and models examples are provided on how COMPS-related science is leading to improvements in both the observational array and the model implementations. Coastal oceans, as complex, three-dimensional, time dependent, data poor regimes, require the coordination between observing and modeling programs to fill information gaps and to provide the basis, through research, for sound, ecologically-based stewardship.
DE: 4219 Continental shelf processes
DE: 4279 Upwelling and convergences
DE: 4504 Air/sea interactions (0312)
DE: 4512 Currents
DE: 4572 Upper ocean processes
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting