| Summary: | TOPAZ is a real-time forecasting system that has been established for the Atlantic and the Arctic basin. It uses HYCOM model with a resolution varying. The TOPAZ system is intended to provide high-quality boundary conditions for nested high-resolution models anywhere in its domain (here: Gulf of Mexico). TOPAZ is weekly assimilated using the Ensemble Kalman Filter. This validation work shows that the new version of the TOPAZ system describes the water masses and the main flow pattern around the Gulf of Mexico well, but it also showsthat the transport was weaker than observed. We found out that the weak transport seems to be resulted from the newly implemented bathymetry. Some corrections have been done to it, which showed an increase of the transport in the TOPAZ model (still not enough). Even if the “Quick scheme” shows the correct transport and improved most of the circulation, it is not possible to include it into TOPAZ model yet, since a severe failure appears in the Gulf of Mexico (the Loop Current disappears). The reason is as yet unknown. NERSC Technical Report no. 361
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