BLUElink OPERATIONAL OCEAN PREDICTION IN AUSTRALIA - Advances in Geosciences - page 87

BLUElink > OPERATIONAL OCEAN
PREDICTION IN AUSTRALIA
GARY B. BRASSINGTON ∗,† , PETER R. OKE ‡ and TIM PUGH ∗
∗ Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre
P.O. Box 1289K, Melbourne 3001, Australia
† [e-mail]
‡ CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
Hobart 7000, Australia
‡ [e-mail]
The Bureau of Meteorology is scheduled in 2007 to expand its oceanographic
services to include operational mesoscale ocean forecasts. BLUElink > is a joint
initiative of the Bureau of Meteorology, Commonwealth Scientific and Indus-
trial Research Organisation and the Royal Australian Navy to develop this
capability. The ocean model and data assimilation system have successfully
completed an ocean reanalysis over the period 1992-2005 based on historical
in situ and satellite altimetry observations and reanalyzed atmospheric fluxes.
The model and assimilation components are being prepared with near real-time
observations and atmospheric forecasts for operational trials.
1. Introduction
Operational oceanography is a relatively new capability, which is follow-
ing on from the on-going and successful implementation of the Global
Ocean Observing System (GOOS). Operational oceanography, in this con-
text, refers to the hindcast, nowcast and forecast of the three-dimensional
ocean state (temperature, salinity and pressure) and currents for short-
range timescales out to one month. A pilot project called the Global Ocean
Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) 1 has set out a vision for support-
ing the development of data assimilation of GOOS into state of the art
models of the global ocean circulation in near real-time (NRT). GODAE
promotes the sharing of data, standardising of metrics for model inter-
comparisons and supporting common infrastructure, formats and protocols
for data servicing. Several GODAE server nodes in both the USA 2 and
Europe 3 now provide public domain access to NRT satellite and profile
observational data. BLUElink > is an Australian government initiative to
develop the Ocean Model Analysis and Prediction System (OceanMAPS)
for operational implementation at the Bureau of Meteorology (Bureau).
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