Crisis Ocean Modelling with a Relocatable Operational Forecasting System and Its Application to the Lakshadweep Sea (Indian Ocean)

Abstract

This study presents the Relocatable Operational Ocean Model (ReOMo), which can be used as a Crisis Ocean Modelling System in any region of the global ocean that is free from ice. ReOMo can be quickly nested into an existing coarser resolution (parent) model. The core components of ReOMo are the NEMO hydrodynamic model and Rose-Cylc workflow management software. The principal innovative feature of ReOMo is the use of the Nesting with Data Assimilation (NDA) algorithm, which is based on the model-to-model assimilation technique. The NDA utilises the full 3D set of field variables from the parent model rather than just the 2D boundary conditions. Therefore, ReOMo becomes physically aware of observations that have been assimilated and dynamically balanced in the external model. The NDA also reduces the spatial phase shift of ocean features known as the ‘double penalty effect’. In this study, ReOMo was implemented for the Lakshadweep Sea in the Indian Ocean at 1/20°, 1/60°, or 1/120° resolution with and without model-to-model data assimilation. ReOMo is computationally efficient, and it was validated against a number of observational data sets to show good skills with an additional benefit of having better resolution than the parent model.