Implementation and validation of a new operational wave forecasting system of the Mediterranean Monitoring and Forecasting Centre in the framework of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service

Within the framework of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS), an operational wave forecasting system for the Mediterranean Sea has been implemented by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) and evaluated through a series of preoperational tests and subsequently for 1 full year of simulations (2014). The system is based on the WAM model and it has been developed as a nested sequence of two computational grids to ensure that occasional remote swell propagating from the North Atlantic correctly enters the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Mediterranean model has a grid spacing of 1∕24°. It is driven with 6-hourly analysis and 5-day forecast 10&thinsp;m ECMWF winds. It accounts for shoaling and refraction due to bathymetry and surface currents, which are provided in offline mode by CMEMS. Extensive statistics on the system performance have been calculated by comparing model results with in situ and satellite observations. Overall, the significant wave height is accurately simulated by the model while less accurate but reasonably good results are obtained for the mean wave period. In both cases, the model performs optimally at offshore wave buoy locations and well-exposed Mediterranean subregions. Within enclosed basins and near the coast, unresolved topography by the wind and wave models and fetch limitations cause the wave model performance to deteriorate. Model performance is better in winter when the wave conditions are well defined. On the whole, the new forecast system provides reliable forecasts. Future improvements include data assimilation and higher-resolution wind forcing.</p

An integrated open-coastal biogeochemistry, ecosystem and biodiversity observatory of the eastern Mediterranean – the Cretan Sea component of the POSEIDON system

There is a general scarcity of oceanic observations that concurrently examine air–sea interactions, coastal–open-ocean processes and physical–biogeochemical processes, in appropriate spatiotemporal scales and under continuous, long-term data acquisition schemes. In the Mediterranean Sea, the resulting knowledge gaps and observing challenges increase due to its oligotrophic character, especially in the eastern part of the basin. The oligotrophic open Cretan Sea's biogeochemistry is considered to be representative of a greater Mediterranean area up to 106&thinsp;km2, and understanding its features may be useful on even larger oceanic scales, since the Mediterranean Sea has been considered a miniature model of the global ocean. The spatiotemporal coverage of biogeochemical (BGC) observations in the Cretan Sea has progressively increased over the last decades, especially since the creation of the POSEIDON observing system, which has adopted a multiplatform, multivariable approach, supporting BGC data acquisition. The current POSEIDON system's status includes open and coastal sea fixed platforms, a Ferrybox (FB) system and Bio-Argo autonomous floats that remotely deliver fluorescence as a proxy of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), O2, pH and pCO2 data, as well as BGC-related physical variables. Since 2010, the list has been further expanded to other BGC (nutrients, vertical particulate matter fluxes), ecosystem and biodiversity (from viruses up to zooplankton) variables, thanks to the addition of sediment traps, frequent research vessel (R/V) visits for seawater–plankton sampling and an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) delivering information on macrozooplankton–micronekton vertical migration (in the epipelagic to mesopelagic layer). Gliders and drifters are the new (currently under integration to the existing system) platforms, supporting BGC monitoring. Land-based facilities, such as data centres, technical support infrastructure, calibration laboratory and mesocosms, support and give added value to the observatory. The data gathered from these platforms are used to improve the quality of the BGC-ecosystem model predictions, which have recently incorporated atmospheric nutrient deposition processes and assimilation of satellite Chl-a data. Besides addressing open scientific questions at regional and international levels, examples of which are presented, the observatory provides user-oriented services to marine policy makers and the society, and is a technological test bed for new and/or cost-efficient BGC sensor technology and marine equipment. It is part of European and international observing programs, playing a key role in regional data handling and participating in harmonization and best practices procedures. Future expansion plans consider the evolving scientific and society priorities, balanced with sustainable management.</p

Copernicus Marine Service Ocean State Report

This is the final version. Available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this record

Copernicus Ocean State Report, issue 6

The 6th issue of the Copernicus OSR incorporates a large range of topics for the blue, white and green ocean for all European regional seas, and the global ocean over 1993–2020 with a special focus on 2020

Collocated model and observation datasets for the validation of the Copernicus Mediterranean Sea Waves Analysis and Forecast for the period 2018-2020.

The collocated values are used for skill evaluation of the Mediterranean Sea Waves Analysis and Forecast system for a three-year-long period (Korres et al., 2022). The list of datasets includes: The collocated model (analysis) – buoy values for significant wave height Hs (Insitu_Hs.mat) The collocated model (analysis) – buoy values for spectral moments (0,2) wave period Tm (Insitu_Tm.mat) The collocated model (first – guess) – satellite values for significant wave height Hs (Satellite_Hs.mat) The collocated model – satellite values for wind speed U10 (Satellite_U10.mat) Each .mat file contains a header for the variables included. Collocations can be used to estimate standard quality metrics (e.g. scatter index, bias, root-mean-squared-difference). Procedures to produce these model-observation collocated datasets and determine the overall skill assessment are described in detail in Ravdas et al. (2018) and Oikonomou et al. (2022). The buoy (in-situ) measurements are obtained from the product INSITU_GLO_WAV_DISCRETE_MY_013_045 (EU Copernicus Marine Service Product, 2022a), and associated variables contain a quality flag (“time_qc”, “position_qc”, “buoy_Hs_qc”, “buoy_Tm_qc”) (de Alfonso et al., 2022a,b). In addition, the model first-guess significant wave height and the wind speed forcing (Hersbach et al., 2023) are collocated with available satellite observations (EU Copernicus Marine Service Product, 2022b) over the entire model domain. References de Alfonso, M., Manzano, F., and Gallardo, A. (2022a): EU Copernicus Marine Service Quality Information Document for the In Situ TAC Product, INSITU_GLO_WAV_DISCRETE_MY_013_045, Issue 5.0, Mercator Ocean International, https://catalogue.marine.copernicus.eu/documents/QUID/CMEMS-INS-QUID-013-045.pdf de Alfonso, M., Manzano, F., Gallardo, A., and In Situ TAC (2022b): EU Copernicus Marine Service Product User Manual for Multi-Year WAVE In Situ Product, INSITU_GLO_WAV_DISCRETE_MY_013_045, Issue 2.0, Mercator Ocean International, https://catalogue.marine.copernicus.eu/documents/PUM/CMEMS-INS-PUM-013-045.pdf EU Copernicus Marine Service Product (2022a): Multi-Year WAVE In Situ Product, Mercator Ocean International, [dataset], https://doi.org/10.17882/70345 EU Copernicus Marine Service Product (2022b): Global Ocean L 3 Significant Wave Height From Reprocessed Satellite Measurements, Mercator Ocean International, [dataset], https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00176 Hersbach, H., Bell, B., Berrisford, P., Biavati, G., Horányi, A., Muñoz Sabater, J., Nicolas, J., Peubey, C., Radu, R., Rozum, I., Schepers, D., Simmons, A., Soci, C., Dee, D., Thépaut, J-N. (2023): ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS), DOI: 10.24381/cds.adbb2d47 (Accessed on 26-09-2023) Korres, G., Oikonomou, C., Denaxa, D., & Sotiropoulou, M. (2022): Mediterranean Sea Waves Analysis and Forecast (CMEMS MED-Waves, MEDWAΜ4 system) (Version 1) [Data set]. Copernicus Monitoring Environment Marine Service (CMEMS). https://doi.org/10.25423/CMCC/MEDSEA_ANALYSISFORECAST_WAV_006_017_MEDWAM4 Oikonomou, C., Denaxa D., and Korres, G. (2022): EU Copernicus Marine Service Quality Information Document for the Mediterranean Sea Waves Reanalysis, MEDSEA_ANALYSISFORECAST_WAV_006_017, Issue 2.2, Mercator Ocean International, https://catalogue.marine.copernicus.eu/documents/QUID/CMEMS-MED-QUID-006-017.pdf. Ravdas, M., Zacharioudaki, A., and Korres, G. (2018): Implementation and validation of a new operational wave forecasting system of the Mediterranean Monitoring and Forecasting Centre in the framework of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2675–2695, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2675-201

Modeling the ocean and atmosphere during an extreme bora event in northern Adriatic using one-way and two-way atmosphere-ocean coupling

We have studied the performances of (a) a two-way coupled atmosphere-ocean modeling system and (b) one-way coupled ocean model (forced by the atmosphere model), as compared to the available in situ measurements during and after a strong Adriatic bora wind event in February 2012, which led to extreme air-sea interactions. The simulations span the period between January and March 2012. The models used were ALADIN (Aire Limiteé Adaptation dynamique Développement InterNational) (4.4 km resolution) on the atmosphere side and an Adriatic setup of Princeton ocean model (POM) (130 × 130 angular resolution) on the ocean side. The atmosphere-ocean coupling was implemented using the OASIS3-MCT model coupling toolkit. Two-way coupling ocean feedback to the atmosphere is limited to sea surface temperature. We have compared modeled atmosphere-ocean fluxes and sea temperatures from both setups to platform and CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) measurements from three locations in the northern Adriatic. We present objective verification of 2 m atmosphere temperature forecasts using mean bias and standard deviation of errors scores from 23 meteorological stations in the eastern part of Italy. We show that turbulent fluxes from both setups differ up to 20 % during the bora but not significantly before and after the event. When compared to observations, two-way coupling ocean temperatures exhibit a 4 times lower root mean square error (RMSE) than those from one-way coupled system. Two-way coupling improves sensible heat fluxes at all stations but does not improve latent heat loss. The spatial average of the two-way coupled atmosphere component is up to 0.3 &amp;deg;C colder than the one-way coupled setup, which is an improvement for prognostic lead times up to 20 h. Daily spatial average of the standard deviation of air temperature errors shows 0.15 &amp;deg;C improvement in the case of coupled system compared to the uncoupled. Coupled and uncoupled circulations in the northern Adriatic are predominantly wind-driven and show no significant mesoscale differences. © 2016 Author(s)

Modeling the ocean and atmosphere during an extreme bora event in northern Adriatic using one-way and two-way atmosphere–ocean coupling

We have studied the performances of (a) a two-way coupled atmosphere–ocean modeling system and (b) one-way coupled ocean model (forced by the atmosphere model), as compared to the available in situ measurements during and after a strong Adriatic bora wind event in February 2012, which led to extreme air–sea interactions. The simulations span the period between January and March 2012. The models used were ALADIN (Aire Limitée Adaptation dynamique Développement InterNational) (4.4 km resolution) on the atmosphere side and an Adriatic setup of Princeton ocean model (POM) (1&deg;∕30 × 1&deg;∕30 angular resolution) on the ocean side. The atmosphere–ocean coupling was implemented using the OASIS3-MCT model coupling toolkit. Two-way coupling ocean feedback to the atmosphere is limited to sea surface temperature. We have compared modeled atmosphere–ocean fluxes and sea temperatures from both setups to platform and CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) measurements from three locations in the northern Adriatic. We present objective verification of 2 m atmosphere temperature forecasts using mean bias and standard deviation of errors scores from 23 meteorological stations in the eastern part of Italy. We show that turbulent fluxes from both setups differ up to 20 % during the bora but not significantly before and after the event. When compared to observations, two-way coupling ocean temperatures exhibit a 4 times lower root mean square error (RMSE) than those from one-way coupled system. Two-way coupling improves sensible heat fluxes at all stations but does not improve latent heat loss. The spatial average of the two-way coupled atmosphere component is up to 0.3 &deg;C colder than the one-way coupled setup, which is an improvement for prognostic lead times up to 20 h. Daily spatial average of the standard deviation of air temperature errors shows 0.15 &deg;C improvement in the case of coupled system compared to the uncoupled. Coupled and uncoupled circulations in the northern Adriatic are predominantly wind-driven and show no significant mesoscale differences