Work Package 9

New Methos to Assess the Impact of Coastal Observing Systems

WP9 applies data assimilation techniques in order to estimate the impact of existing and future coastal observational platforms on the accuracy of the oceanographic state estimates. Data assimilation systems consisting of high resolution oceanographic models and complex data assimilation schemes perform sensitivity experiments in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the Irish Sea, the Bay of Biscay, the Adriatic Sea and the Aegean Sea. They estimate the impact of existing and future CTD instruments, coastal radars, gliders, FerryBox platforms, voluntary observations from fishing vessels and observations of positions of surface drifters.

The already started experiments indicate and predict a high impact of some observations. At the end of the project the findings of our studies presented in scientific reports will contribute to form recommendations for the design and development of European observational platforms in the coastal area.