Sea Surface Height Predictions from the Global Navy Coastal Ocean Model During 1998-2001
Abstract
A 1/8 degree global version of the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM), operational at the Naval Oceanographic OffIce (NAVOCEANO), is used for prediction of sea surface height (SSH) on daily and monthly time scales during 1998-2001. Model simulations that use 3-hourly wind and thermal forcing obtained from the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System are performed with/without data assimilation to examine indirect/direct effects of atmospheric forcing in predicting SSH. Model-data evaluations are performed using the extensive database of daily averaged SSH values from tide gauges in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans obtained from the Joint Archive for Sea Level (JASL) center during 1998-2001. Model-data comparisons are based on observations from 282 tide gauge locations. an inverse barometer correction was applied to SSH time series from tide gauges for model-data comparisons, and a sensitivity is undertaken to assess the impact of the inverse barometer correction on the SSH validation. A set of statistical metrics that includes conditional bias, root-mean-square difference, correlation coefficient, and nondimensional skill score is used to evaluate the model performance. It is shown that global NCOM has skill in representing SSH even in a free-running simulation, with general improvements when SSH from satellite altimetry and sea surface temperature from satellite IR are assimilated via synthetic temperature and salinity profiles derived from climatological correlations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA432742
Entities
People
- A. Birol Kara
- Charlie N. Barron
- Clark Rowley
- Harley E. Hurlburt
- Lucy F. Smedstad
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory