Daily oceanographic analyses by Mediterranean Forecasting System at the basin scale

[摘要] This study presents the upgrade of the Optimal Interpolation scheme used inthe basin scale assimilation scheme of the Mediterranean Forecasting System.The modifications include a daily analysis cycle, the assimilation of ARGOfloat profiles, the implementation of the geostrophic balance in thebackground error covariance matrix and the initialisation of the analyses. Aseries of numerical experiments showed that each modification had a positiveimpact on the accuracy of the analyses: The daily cycle improved therepresentation of the processes with the temporal variability shorter than aweek, the assimilation of ARGO floats profiles significantly improved thesalinity analyses quality, the geostrophically balanced background errorcovariances improved the accuracy of the surface elevation analyses, and theinitialisation removed the barotropic adjustment in the forecast first timesteps starting from the analysis.

[学科分类] 海洋学与技术