Prototype Ocean OSSE
Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) provide a rigorous and cost-effective approach to evaluate the impact of new observing systems prior to deployment and alternate deployment of existing observing systems. OSSEs have been used for over three decades to evaluate atmospheric observing system based on their impact on improving forecast accuracy.
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Gulf of Mexico Nature Run
A main objective of the OMOC is to perform ocean OSSEs that are suitable for testing a wide variety of observing systems, which will aim at detecting and characterizing a wide range of ocean processes. In that context, modeling tools are being developed that are able to represent typical near-coastal ocean processes, many of which are at the ocean mesoscale (a few tens of km). The Gulf of Mexico is a perfect area for such development, as it combines coastal and shelf areas with a very energetic western boundary current, typical of the open ocean.
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Atlantic Ocean OSSE
The OSSE system for the Atlantic Ocean (98.0oW to 20.0oW and 5.0oN to 45.0oN) has been setup with two different sets of the HYCOM configurations for the 0.04 Nature Run (NR) and the 0.08 data-assimilative forecast model (FM). For the initial and boundary (through nesting method) conditions, both models use the global HYCOM analysis which has the 0.08 grids in horizontal and the 32 hybrid layers in vertical and is remapped to the 36 vertical hybrid layers for the NR and to the 26 vertical hybrid layers for the FM.
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OMOC Publications
Halliwell, Jr., G. R., A. Srinivasan, V. Kourafalou, H Yang, D. Willey, M. Le Hénaff, and R. Atlas, 2014a. Rigorous evaluation of a fraternal twin ocean OSSE system in the open Gulf of Mexico. J. Atm. Ocean. Techn. 31(1):105-130, doi: 10.1175/JTECH-D-13-00011.1.
Halliwell, Jr., G. R., V. Kourafalou, M. Le Hénaff, L. K. Shay, and R. Atlas, 2014b. OSSE impact analysis of airborne ocean surveys for improving upper-ocean dynamical and thermodynamical forecasts in the Gulf of Mexico. Submitted to Progress in Oceanography.
Kourafalou V.H., P. De Mey, M. Le Hénaff, G. Charria, C.A. Edwards, R. He, M. Herzfeld, A. Pasqual, E. Stanev, J. Tintoré, N. Usui, A. Van Der Westhuysen. J. Wilkin and X. Zhu, 2014. Coastal Ocean Forecasting: system integration and validation. Submitted to Journal of Operational Oceanography.
Kourafalou, V.H., P. De Mey, J. Staneva, N. Ayoub, A. Barth, Y. Chao, M. Cirano, J. Fiechter, M. Herzfeld, A. Kurapov, A.M. Moore, P. Oddo, J. Pullen, A. Van Der Westhuysen and R. Weisberg, 2014. Coastal Ocean Forecasting: science drivers and user benefits. Submitted to Journal of Operational Oceanography.
Oke, P.R., G. Larnicol, E.M. Jones, V.H. Kourafalou, A.K. Sperrevik, F. Carse, C.A.S. Tanajura, B. Mourre, M. Tonani, G.B. Brassington, M. Le Henaff, G.R. Halliwell, R. Atlas, A.M. Moore, C.A. Edwards, M.J. Martin, A.A. Stellar, A.Alvarez, P. De Mey, M. Iskandarani, 2014. Assessing the impact of observations on ocean forecasts and reanalyses: Part 2: Regional applications. Submitted to Journal of Operational Oceanography.
Le Hénaff, M., V.H. Kourafalou, Y. Morel and A. Srinivasan, 2012. Simulating the dynamics and intensification of cyclonic Loop Current frontal eddies in the Gulf of Mexico.J. Geophys. Res., 117, C02034, doi: 10.1029/2011JC007279.
Shay, L. K., B. Jaimes, J. K. Brewster, P. Meyers, E. C. McCaskill, E. Uhlhorn, F. Marks, G. R. Halliwell, Jr., O-M Smedstad, and P. Hogan, 2011. Airborne ocean surveys of the Loop Current complex from NOAA WP-3D in support of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. In Monitoring and Modeling the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: A Record-Breaking Enterprise, Liu et al., Eds., AGU Monograph Series, 131-151.
