SeaFINE: Eddy-resolving South China Sea reanalysis
SEAFINE (SEAMOS-South Fine Grid Hindcast) is an Oceanweather JIP (Joint Industry Project) for development of wind, wave and 3D currents hindcast on a fine grid of the southern part of the South China Seas.
Objectives
In 1992, Oceanweather Inc produced the JIP known as SEAMOS (South East Asia Meteorological and Oceanographic Hindcast Study) designed to provide definitive data on meteorological and oceanographic extreme and operational conditions, to be used in aid of design of offshore structures and planning and offshore operations in the general area of the South China Sea (SCS) and the immediately contiguous basins. The complexity of the bathymetry and the relative sparseness of tropical cyclones in this part of the basin present some special problems that may be addressed in this new proposed update and extension of SEAMOS, which we have dubbed SEAFINE. This new project not only provides a new, updated, and greatly expanded (in terms of the historical period addresses) of the entire southern half of the SEAMOS domain but also very high resolution metocean hindcasts carried out with fine mesh nested grid(s) covering the offshore and coastal resource development areas of interest to the participants of SEAFINE.
Project Summary
Terra Orbit AS provides 3D currents hindcast based on a data assimilative configuration of the HYCOM model. The model includes the following goodies:
- Nested configuration from a Indo-Pacific 1/3rd deg model to a 5-km high resolution model in the South China Sea.
- High-integrity SeaFINE wind forcing from Ocean Weather Inc. (QuickSCAT based)
- Tidal forcing at the boundaries of the nested HR model.
- Data assimilation of along-track altimeter data with the EnOI, à la Xie et al. (OS, 2011) but in higher resolution: http://www.ocean-sci.net/7/609/2011/os-7-609-2011.html.
- Hourly output of time series at 19.000 points in the whole altimeter epoch 1993-2010 (18 years).
- HYCOM V2.2.34 running with 4th order (QUICK) scheme for advection of momentum.
- River discharges diagnosed from ERA-Interim runoff and the TRIP hydrological model.
