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Assimilation of surface velocity data into a primitive equation coastal ocean model

ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University

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Title Assimilation of surface velocity data into a primitive equation coastal ocean model
Names Oke, Peter R. (creator)
Allen, John S. (creator)
Miller, Robert N. (creator)
Egbert, Gary D. (creator)
Kosro, P. Michael, 1951- (creator)
Date Issued 2002-09-10 (iso8601)
Note copyrighted by American Geophysical Union
Abstract A data assimilation system (DAS) of the wind-driven, mesoscale shelf circulation off
the Oregon coast is developed. The DAS assimilates low-pass filtered surface velocity
measurements, obtained from land-based high-frequency coastal radar arrays, into a
primitive equation coastal ocean model using a sequential optimal interpolation scheme.
Inhomogeneous and anisotropic estimates of the forecast error covariances required for
the assimilation are assumed to be proportional to typical cross-correlations between
modeled variables. These correlations are estimated from an ensemble of model
simulations for 18 different summers. Similarly, the observation error covariances are
assumed to be proportional to the actual covariances of the observations. A timedistributed
averaging procedure (TDAP) that effectively low-pass filters the model
forecast for comparison with the observations and introduces the corrections to the model
state gradually over time is used in order to overcome problems of data compatibility and
initialization. The correlations between direct subsurface current measurements and
subsurface currents obtained from model-only and assimilation experiments for the
summer of 1998 are 0.42 and 0.78, respectively, demonstrating the effectiveness of the
DAS. Our estimates of the error covariances are shown to be appropriate through a series
of objective statistical tests. Analysis of the term balances of the model equations show
that the dominant modeled dynamical balances are preserved by the DAS and that
uncertainties in the spatial variability of the wind forcing are likely to be one source of
model error. By varying the relative magnitudes of the estimated forecast and observation
error covariances the DAS is shown to be most effective when approximately 80% of the
analysis is made up of the model solution.
Genre Article
Identifier Oke, P. R., Allen, J. S., Miller, R. N., Egbert, G. D., and Kosro, P. M., (2002) Assimilation of surface velocity data into a primitive equation coastal ocean model, J. Geophys. Res., 107, C9, 3122.

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