Coastal Ocean Modelling Infrastructure Development at the NOAA National Ocean Service in Support of Disaster Mitigation and Marine Navigation

Abstract:

The National Ocean Service is developing the necessary coastal modeling infrastructure to continually advance current operational forecasting systems (OFS) to provide coastal users and forecasters with better guidance as well as to support the missions of other Federal and State agencies. In order to support these ambitious goals, we envision a next generation 2D/3D high-fidelity coastal ocean modeling frameworks to have the following characteristics: 1) National scale coverage, 2) adaptive, flexible and high resolution (2km~25m), 3) seamless transition between 2D and 3D modes based on the end user needs and required products, 3) advanced numerical and computational technology to ensure both optimal performance and operational stability, 4) architecture agnostic computational environment (HPC and cloud support), 5) capability to digest inland hydrology information, 6) compliance with Unified Forecast System (UFS) best practices, 7) data assimilation, and most importantly 8) community support to foster collaboration and innovation. In this presentation we will present some of our latest advances and results of our collaborative projects, including dynamical coupling of our current coastal ocean models with surface waves, inland-hydrology and sea ice using the NUOPC/ESMF flexible coupling framework following NOAA’s UFS best practices.

Here we would like to take this opportunity for initiating the conversation with the modeling community, the end users and stakeholders on what are the expectations or requirements that the envisioned modeling system need to fulfill in order to successfully support disaster mitigation, navigation, ecological forecasting and the blue economy.