Ocean-atmosphere simulations of
the Eastern Mediterranean using
COAMPSTM/NCOM
Julie Pullen Paul Martin James Doyle Richard Hodur
Objectives
Simulate Mediterranean and subregional (e.g., Adriatic and Aegean
Seas) atmospheric and oceanic circulation at high resolution as a
testbed for investigating ocean/atmosphere coupling strategies
Document and understand response of marginal seas to forcing by
strong winds and river run-off/outflow from adjacent water bodies
Aid in planning of field campaigns and employ observational data
for model validation and data assimilation
Outline
 Model configuration
 Model forcing
 Simulations during etesian wind events
Domain Configuration
81 km
COAMPS
27 km
Momentum,
Heat fluxes
6 km NCOM
TM
Nesting for Focus on Adriatic Sea
81 km
COAMPS
TM
36 km
COAMPS
TM
12 km
27 km
4 km
2 km NCOM
Momentum, Heat
fluxes
Momentum,
Heat fluxes
Initial conditions and lateral
boundary forcing
6 km NCOM
2 km NCOM Aegean Sea nest (Paul Martin)
COAMPSTM/ atmosphere MVOI
Features
 Analysis: multivariate OI of winds and heights (univariate of
temperature and moisture) ingests observations from
radiosondes, surface observations, aircraft, and satellites
 Model: Non-hydrostatic, C-grid, sigma vertical coordinate
Specifications
 81/ 27 km, 30 levels
 grid size of inner nest: 193 x 97
 12 hr incremental data assimilation cycle with 24 hr
forecast
 reanalysis has been run for Oct 1998 – June 2002, and is
ongoing
Features
NCOM
 Ocean model based on POM: C-grid, hybrid sigma-z vertical
coordinate, options for parametrization of turbulence, order of
advection scheme (Paul Martin, NRL-Stennis)
 forced by hourly COAMPS
TM
momentum and heat fluxes
Specifications
 6 km, 40 levels (15 sigma levels)
 grid size: 576 x 288
 starting from multi-year spin-up beginning 1999
climatological river discharge from 54 major rivers
NCOM Bathymetry in the Aegean
Simulations
(summer 2001)
 COAMPS Eastern Mediterranean wind
 COAMPS/NCOM Aegean wind/surface elevation
 NCOM climatological simulation with BSW