D9.1 First Science Report

In WP9 the evaluation of existing and future coastal observational platforms will be performed by applying Observational System Experiments (OSEs) and Observational System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) that use data assimilation systems based on high resolution coastal ocean models.

Data assimilation systems cover a wide range of European coastal areas from the Mediterranean Sea to the Northern European Seas. In particular they are located in the Aegean Sea, the Adriatic Sea, the Bay of Biscay, the North Sea and the Baltic. In addition to different geographical coverage, data assimilation systems have a number of technical differences. Each system applies models that have different horizontal and vertical resolutions, formulations of the vertical coordinate system, physical parameterizations and even differ by the number and the type of the processes that are simulated. Furthermore, some data assimilation schemes use the Kalman Filter, while some others are based on the variational approach. Also assimilated coastal observational platforms differ significantly in different systems.

In the report we provide an overview of each data assimilation system. The report, therefore, describes the entire JERICO methodology for the estimation of the impact of coastal observational platforms and provides the basis for the comnparison between individual components.

In the future presentation of the results of OSE and OSSE experiments we will have to underline the large variability of geographical areas and methodologies used for the estimation of the impact of observational systems. In addition we will have to cover as much as possible different environmental problems that our systems should address, from short term forecast in emergency situations to long term monitoring programmes.

Download the PDF for further information.

D9.1 WP9 Scientific Report (1.1 MiB)