The California Current System (CCS) is among the most biologically productive, and economically important regions in the ocean. A specific subregion of the CCS has been studied extensively since 1949 by the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI). However, because of the low space and time resolution of the sampling, the data from this program have been unable to resolve the mesoscale variability which dominates the biological productivity in this region. The focus of this project is to fit an ocean model, ROMS, to the available remotely sensed and in situ data to obtain a dynamically consistent representation of the flow for a given 3-week CalCOFI survey. Then we will test the model in forecast mode to quantify predictability limits and validate the hindcast fit physics.
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ROMS is an eddy-resolving primitive equation (PE) generalized sigma-coordinate ocean circulation model which is a descendent of the Rutgers SCRUM. The 9km model grid is curvilinear and extends about 1200 km along the coast from northern Baja to north of the San Francisco Bay area with an offshore extent normal to the coast of about 700km. In the vertical, 20 layers reach from the free surface to the bottom, with increased resolution in the surface and bottom boundary layers.
The northern, southern and western boundaries are open and with across-boundary fluxes treated by using a modified version of the Orlanski radiation scheme and/or with nudging to specified time-dependent temperature and salinity values.
For the biology, seven advection diffusion equations have been added representing Phytoplankton, Zooplankton, Nitrate, Ammonium, Chl-a and two Detritus pools. At each time step, source/sink terms regulate the interaction between the biological components.
Date: Sat 04/Jul/09
Visitor #: 1101