Overview and current status of the Mersea project and system

1. Overview and current status of the Mersea project and system Eric Dombrowsky - Mercator Océan

2. The MERSEA Integrated Project • Development of a European system for operational monitoring and forecasting of the ocean physics, biogeochemistry, and ecosystems, on global and regional scales • A European Commission FP6 Project (Space-GMES) • 4-year project (2004 –2008) • 38 contractors, 16 countries IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007

3. 13 workpackages: WP1 coordination: IFREMER, France 3 WPs dedicated to input data 2 WPs for system design and assessment, and for information system activities 2 WPs for R&D: model+assim and evaluation 2 WPs for implementation and production including downscaling 2 WPs for service and demonstrations: special focus experiments and user involvement: oil and gas industry, ship routing and waves, oil spill drift WP13: overall asessment Work Breakdown Structure IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007

4. Cyprus FDMR Denmark DMI U.E JRC Finland U-HEL France ASP BOOST CLS CNRS Ifremer Mercator Océan Météo France [+ Canada :] DFO Germany AWI GeoB IFM/Univ. Kiel IFM/Univ. Hamburg Greece : HCMR Ireland : Techworks Italy : CNR-ISAC CNR-ISSIA CoNISMA ENEA INGV OGS Netherlands : MARIS Univ. Utrecht MERSEA Project Participants Norway : met no NERSC Spain : CSIC IEO Turkey : IMS UK : NERC-SOC Ocean Numerics PML NERC-POL The Met Office Univ. Reading Univ. Southampton International : ECMWF EuroGOOS membersOperational agencies or services providers IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007

5. ARCTIC NEA -North NW Shelves BALTIC SEA GLOBAL NEA - South MED SEA The MERSEA Integrated System, a European capacity for Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting Bologna Emilia Romagna Copenhagen Oresund Bergen Hordaland Exeter Devon Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007

6. Area 3 Arctic Area 4 Baltic Area 2: North East Atlantic Area 5 Med Sea Area 1 Global IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007

7. Mersea Development • We are currently in the Target Operational Period #2: TOP2 • 6 month period starting in April 2007 • System has evolved from V0 (start of the project) to V1 for TOP1 (Oct 2005), and to version 2 for TOP2, final version 3 will be completed in April 2008 • V0 was the preexisting “patchwork” (Apr 2004) • V1 transformed this “patchwork” into a “network” (Oct 2005) • Scientific improvements • Coordination of validation activities • Sharing of tools and expertise • Development of the information management system • Links to users through development and demonstration of services • V2 made it evolve towards an real integrated system (Apr 2007) • Downscaling from global to regions with boundary data provision • Links to common data providers • More homogeneous data delivery • V3 is the target fully integrated system (Apr 2008) • Full integration from global to regions • Links to users through services • Starting point for MyOcean IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007

8. NERSC Arctic system Version v.2: content and status • HYCOM 11-16 km configuration with sea-ice model for Arctic and North Atlantic • Weekly operation • analyses & 14-day forecasts • Ensemble Kalman filter assimilation scheme • Uses altimeter data, SST and sea-ice concentration & drift data • Does not use in situ T&S profile data • Further development of v.2 for v.3 • Work on nesting of TOPAZ into global Mersea system has started IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007

9. NERSC Arctic system Developments for version v.2 • Agreement between NERSC and National Meteorological Institute: Terms and conditions of operations of TOPAZ at Met.No. Concluded 30 March 2007 • Ice drift velocity data assimilation implemented • Higher horizontal resolution: 11-16 km replacing 18-36 km • Ecosystem simulation shown to be relatively insensitive to assimilation of altimeter data • Port of system to new super-computer IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007

10. DMI Baltic system Version v.2: content and status • 3NM North Sea & 0.5 NM Danish Strait configurations • DMI version of BSH c-mod ocean & sea-ice model • Three configurations coupled by two-way nesting • Twice daily operation • forecasts to 60 hours ahead • SST assimilation scheme • Lateral boundary data in North Sea from climatology IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007

11. DMI Baltic system Developments for version v.2 • Increased resolution • Doubled horizontal resolution and improved vertical resolution • North Sea grid spacing: 3NM (5km) in horizontal; 2 m in vertical • Danish Straits grid spacing: 0.5 NM (900 m); 1 m • Mixing parameterizations • Horizontal dissipation revised to avoid current divergence • K-W vertical mixing scheme represents breaking surface & internal waves • Much sharper pycnocline obtained at some stations • Attempted to use lateral boundary data from north-east Atlantic • Problems because of differences in bathymetry in Norwegian Trench (recall that models use s-coords and hence are smoothed) • SST data assimilation implemented • uses simplified Kalman filter (Larsson et al 2007) • System optimized for AMD Opteron computer IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007

12. INGV Mediterranean system Version v.2: content and status • 1/16o, 72 level configuration (with revised Atlantic domain) • NEMO ocean models with 72 layers • Daily forecasts and weekly analysis updates • 10-day forecasts • Multi-variate 3D variational assimilation scheme • Uses in situ T&S profile data & SST analysis • Uses SSH data with revised Rio MDT • Nesting into to global system • Mechanics for nesting in global model have been set up • A parallel version is run nested in v.2 global IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007

13. INGV Mediterranean system Developments for version v.2 • Converted ocean model from OPA 8.1 to NEMO • Preparations to nest within Mercator global system • New assimilation scheme • multi-variate 3D variational scheme (with some novel approaches) • Uses in situ T&S, SST, SSH • Revisions to mean dynamic topography IGST-12 - St John's - August 2007