HR: 1330h
AN: OS43A-01    [Abstracts]
TI: A Coastal Nowcast/Forecast Model of the South Atlantic Bight: Nesting with a basin-scale hybrid-coordinate model
AU: * Blanton, B O
EM: brian_blanton@unc.edu
AF: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Marine Sciences CB&35;3300, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3300 United States
AU: Chassignet, E P
EM: echassignet@rsmas.miami.edu
AF: University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149-1098 United States
AU: Werner, F E
EM: cisco@unc.edu
AF: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Marine Sciences CB&35;3300, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3300 United States
AB: Coastal ocean observing systems that include a nowcast/forecast modeling component are rapidly developing. The prescription of boundary conditions for these shelf-scale, regional models include nearshore buoyancy inputs, tides, and atmospheric fluxes. In principle, these are straightforward. However, fundamental problems remain in the initialization of the mass field and prescription of appropriate fluxes from the far-field (the offshore domain) into the regional model domain. This is particularly true in regions that are impacted by energetic neighboring boundary currents. Operational ocean basin-scale models can provide a valuable source for initialization and flux information for coastal limited-area models. We examine the use of operational basin-scale GODAE/HYCOM output in a quasi-operational limited-area (shelf/coastal) model of the central South Atlantic Bight (SAB). The region of interest is the Georgia/South Carolina coast where a baroclinic high-resolution finite element model (QUODDY) has been implemented as part of a coastal ocean observing system (SABSOON). The SAB region is characterized by strong tides, distributed fresh water river discharge, and atmospheric fluxes. Additionally, the mid-shelf region can be significantly influenced by Gulf Stream features. The nowcast sequence from the operational GODAE/HYCOM model is compared to available observations in the SAB. The limited-area nowcast/forecast model system is initialized from the GODAE/HYCOM nowcasts and the skill is evaluated.
DE: 4219 Continental shelf processes
DE: 4255 Numerical modeling
DE: 4576 Western boundary currents
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly