Status: this preprint was under review for the journal OS. A revision for further review has not been submitted.
An operational implementation of the GHER model for the Black Sea, with SST and CTD data assimilation
L. Vandenbulcke,A. Capet,J. M. Beckers,M. Grégoire,and S. Besiktepe
L. Vandenbulcke
GeoHydrodynamics and Environment Research, Université de Liège, Belgium
A. Capet
GeoHydrodynamics and Environment Research, Université de Liège, Belgium
J. M. Beckers
GeoHydrodynamics and Environment Research, Université de Liège, Belgium
M. Grégoire
GeoHydrodynamics and Environment Research, Université de Liège, Belgium
S. Besiktepe
NATO Undersea Research Centre, La Spezia, Italy
Abstract. In this article, we describe the first operational implementation of the GHER hydrodynamic model. This happened onboard the research vessel "Alliance", in the context of the Turkish Straits System 2008 campaign, which aimed at the real-time characterization of the Marmara Sea and (south-western) Black Sea. The model performed badly at first, mainly because of poor initial conditions. Hence, as the model includes a reduced-rank extended Kalman filter assimilation scheme, after a hindcast where sea surface temperature and temperature and salinity profiles were assimilated, the model yielded realistic forecasts. Furthermore, the time required to run a one-day simulation (about 5 min of simulation, or 10 min with pre-processing and data transfers included) is very limited and thus operational use of the model is possible.
Received: 07 Aug 2009 – Discussion started: 31 Aug 2009