A Consortium for Ocean Circulation and Climate Estimation

• Main Author: Stammer, Detlef
• Other Authors: SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY LA JOLLA CA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: Meteorology; Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; *OCEAN CURRENTS; *OCEAN MODELS; *MARINE METEOROLOGY; *CIRCULATION; DATA BASES; FUNCTIONS; GLOBAL; MODELS; DYNAMICS; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; HIGH RESOLUTION; FLOATS; ESTIMATES; THREE DIMENSIONAL; ERRORS; CLIMATE; COVARIANCE; OCEANS; ASSIMILATION; NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN; NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN; Pacific; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA395540; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA395540

We will improve the ocean general circulation models upon which assimilation is based, evaluate and improve assimilation techniques, and confront the practical problems of marshaling large data sets and carrying out routine assimilation runs. Our central technical goal is a complete global-scale ocean state estimation over at least the 15 year period 1985-2000 at 1/40 resolution with a complete error description and regional refinements to support CLIVAR and GODAE needs. We will combine all available and anticipated large-scale data sets - including TOPEX/POSEIDON, TOGA-TAO, high-resolution VOS XBT/XCTD, profiling floats, and drifters - with the dynamics embodied in a general circulation model to estimate the time-evolving, three-dimensional physical state of the full oceanic circulation. We will supplement the global state-estimates with high-resolution regional studies in support of CLIVAR's Basin-wide Extended Climate Studies (BECS) in the North Atlantic and the North Pacific. Global and regional results will be evaluated using available high-quality data sets and estimate covariance functions for processes and errors in data and models.