Abstract:

The numerical model is the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) (Barron et. al, 2006). The circulation model output includes temperature, salinity, velocity(currents), surface elevation, wind velocity, atmospheric pressure, surface fluxes and sound speed in the Gulf of Mexico during the CONCORDE survey time period from September through December 2015, i.e. before, during and after the CONCORDE Fall Cruise period. The domain is forced by boundary conditions from the global operational HYCOM. The vertical setup uses 34 sigma levels (above 250 m) and 16 Z levels beneath (50 total levels). This model experiment was forced hourly by Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS). Tidal potential forcing is applied to the inner domain, and tidal boundary conditions for water level and barotropic velocity are provided by the Oregon State University global Ocean Tide Inverse Solution (OTIS). Data assimilation is used in the experiment. River forcing is based on monthly climatological observed transports. This dataset was created by the CONsortium for oil exposure pathways in COastal River-Dominated Ecosystems (CONCORDE). This research was made possible by a grant from BP/The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.

Suggested Citation:

Gregg A. Jacobs, Peter Spence. 2017. Gulf of Mexico NCOM 1 km resolution numerical model simulation, September-December 2015. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7HX1B37

Publications:

Cambazoglu, M. K., Soto, I. M., Howden, S. D., Dzwonkowski, B., Fitzpatrick, P. J., Arnone, R. A., … Lau, Y. H. (2017). Inflow of shelf waters into the Mississippi Sound and Mobile Bay estuaries in October 2015. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 11(3), 032410. doi:10.1117/1.jrs.11.032410

Soto, I. M., Cambazoglu, M. K., Boyette, A. D., Broussard, K., Sheehan, D., Howden, S. D., … Cressman, K. (2018). Advection of Karenia brevis blooms from the Florida Panhandle towards Mississippi coastal waters. Harmful Algae, 72, 46–64. doi:10.1016/j.hal.2017.12.008

Purpose:

The model results provide temperature, salinity, velocity data over the water column and wind stress, surface elevation,atmospheric pressure, surface flux and surface roughness data at surface in the Gulf of Mexico before, during and after a CONCORDE cruise (CONsortium for oil spill exposure pathways of COastal River-Dominated Ecosystems) in Fall 2015 (September-December 2015). This data was used to support CONCORDE fall 2015 cruise efforts for planning and adaptive sampling; to analyze the inflow of shelf waters into the Mobile Bay/Mississippi Sound estuarine system; and to track the advection of a harmful algal bloom in northern Gulf of Mexico.

Data Parameters and Units:

Twenty-one hour forecasts are made daily at 0000 UT during the period September 1st- December 31st, 2015. Forecast fields are archived at 3-hour intervals (hours 0,3,6,9,12,15,18,21) for each 21-hour forecast period. Products in each NetCDF file include: Latitude (decimal degree), Longitude (decimal degree), Depth (m), Time (UTC hours since 2000-01-01 00:00:00), Water temperature (deg C) [3D], Salinity (PSU) [3D], u-velocity (m/s) [3D], v-velocity (m/s) [3D], w-ve [decimal degree], [3D], Sea-surface height (m) [surface], Sound speed (m/s) [3D], u-wind stress (N/m^2) [surface], v-wind stress (N/m^2) [surface], Atmospheric pressure (Pa) [surface], Surface temperature flux (degC m/s) [surface], Surface salinity flux (psu m/s) [surface], Surface shortwave flux (degC m/s) [surface], Surface roughness (m) [surface]

Methods:

The model is a finite difference forward integration in time. Details may be found in P. J. Martin, C. N. Barron, L. F. Smedstad, T. J. Campbell, A. J. Wallcraft, R. C. Rhodes, C. Rowley, T. L. Townsend and S. N. Carroll, 2009: User's Manual for the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) version 4.0 NRL Report NRL/MR/7320--09-9151 P. J. Martin, C. N. Barron, L. F. Smedstad, A. J. Wallcraft, R C. Rhodes, T. J. Campbell, C. Rowley and S. N. Carroll, 2008: Software Design Description for the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) Version 4.0 NRL Report NRL/MR/7320--08-9149

Error Analysis:

P. J. Martin, J. W. Book, D. M. Burrage, C. D. Rowley and M. Tudor, 2009: Comparison of model-simulated and observed currents in the central Adriatic during DART Journal of Geophysical Research vol 114, C01S05, doi:10.1029/2008JC004842 A. B. Kara, C. N. Barron, P. J. Martin, L. F. Smedstad and R. C. Rhodes, 2006: Validation of interannual simulations from the 1/8 degree global Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) Ocean Modelling vol 11, 376-398 P. J. Martin, P. J. Hogan and J. G. Richman, 2013: Comparison of 1-D and 3-D Simulations of Upper-Ocean Structure Observed at the Hawaii Ocean Time Series Mooring NRL Report NRL/MR/7320--13-9443 P. J. Martin, E. Rogers, R. A. Allard, P. J. Hogan and J. G. Richman, 2012: Results from Tests of Direct Wave Mixing in the Ocean's Surface Mixed Layer NRL Report NRL/FR/7320--12-10216

Provenance and Historical References:

P. J. Martin, C. N. Barron, L. F. Smedstad, T. J. Campbell, A. J. Wallcraft, R. C. Rhodes, C. Rowley, T. L. Townsend and S. N. Carroll, 2009: User's Manual for the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) version 4.0 NRL Report NRL/MR/7320--09-9151 P. J. Martin, C. N. Barron, L. F. Smedstad, A. J. Wallcraft, R C. Rhodes, T. J. Campbell, C. Rowley and S. N. Carroll, 2008: Software Design Description for the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) Version 4.0 NRL Report NRL/MR/7320--08-9149

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