Comparison of Sea Surface Heights Derived from the Navy Coastal Ocean Model With Satellite Altimetry in the Gulf of Mexico

• Main Authors: D'Sa, Eurico, Ko, Dong Shan, Korobkin, Mitsuko
• Other Authors: NAVAL RESEARCH LAB STENNIS SPACE CENTER MS OCEANOGRAPHY DIV
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; *OCEAN SURFACE; *COMPARISON; *OCEAN MODELS; *MEXICO GULF; *HEIGHT FINDING; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; REMOTE DETECTION; TIME SERIES ANALYSIS; FORECASTING; OCEAN CURRENTS; MODAS(MODULAR OCEAN DATA ASSIMILATION SYSTEM); NOGAPS(NAVY GLOBAL ATMOSPHERIC MODEL); OCEAN MODELING; LC(LOOP CURRENT); NCOM(NAVY COASTAL OCEAN MODEL); IASNFS(INTRA-AMERICAS SEA OCEAN NOWCAST FORECAST SYSTEM); *SSH(SEA SURFACE HEIGHT); *SSHA(SEA SURFACE HEIGHT ANOMALIES); *ALTIMETRY; BOUNDARY CONDITIONS; EDDIES; EDDY FIELDS; GULF OF MEXICO; OCEAN CIRCULATION; *SATELLITE DATA; PE0602435N; WU73-9358-07-5; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA479809; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA479809

The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is a semi-enclosed sea that connects in the east to the Atlantic ocean through the straits of Florida, and in the south to the Caribbean Sea through the Yucatan channel. The GOM is rich in natural resources and supports a large fisheries and oil and gas industry. The region is also impacted by natural events such as hurricanes necessitating a better understanding of the physical and biogeochemical processes in the region. Numerous field, remote sensing and numerical modeling studies have provided greater insights into various processes in the GOM, especially the Loop Current (LC) and its eddy field that is a dominating feature in the GOM. Numerical models such as the NRL Layered Ocean Model (NLOM), the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM), the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM), the University of Colorado version of the Princeton Ocean Model (CUPOM) and remote sensing from altimeters have provided better insights into the LO, its eddies and its interaction with the waters of the GOM. Assimilation of SSH from satellite altimetry into these models have improved the accuracy of model predictions. In the GOM, an important consideration in assessing the performance of a numerical model is its accuracy in representing the observable features of the LC and its eddy field. One circulation model in operation for the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida, and parts of the western North Atlantic Ocean is the real-time ocean nowcast/forecast system that has been developed at the Naval Research Laboratory (Intra-Americas Sea Ocean Nowcast/Forecast System (IASNFS). It is a 41-level, 1/24 deg. (5-6 km) data assimilating ocean model based on the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM). The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.