Status: this preprint was under review for the journal OS. A revision for further review has not been submitted.
Assessment of one year of high-resolution operational forecasts for the southeastern Mediterranean shelf region in the MFSTEP project
S. Brenner,A. Murashkovsky,and I. Gertman
S. Brenner
Department of Geography and Environment, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel
National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, PO Box 8030, Haifa 31080, Israel
A. Murashkovsky
National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, PO Box 8030, Haifa 31080, Israel
I. Gertman
National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, PO Box 8030, Haifa 31080, Israel
Abstract. Within the framework of the MFSTEP project an operational ocean forecasting system for the Southeastern Mediterranean Sea has been implemented and evaluated through a series of preoperational tests and subsequently for one year of operational forecasts. The system is based on the Princeton Ocean Model (POM). The high-resolution shelf model is nested in a coarser resolution regional model, which is in turn nested in a coarser resolution full Mediterranean model. The respective grid sizes of the three models are 1.25, 3, and 6 km. Lateral boundary conditions are taken from the daily mean fields of the regional model while the surface forcing is taken from the hourly values of a regional atmospheric forecast model. When compared to satellite derived sea surface temperatures and the MFSTEP analysis fields, the high-resolution shelf model forecasts are significantly more skillful than the coarser model forecasts for the relevant domain. In the four-day forecasts, most of the error appears to be due to the analysis error inherent in the initial conditions. Future development of the system will therefore focus on improving the specification of the initial conditions.
Received: 05 Oct 2006 – Discussion started: 18 Dec 2006