Ocean Modelling, Data Assimilation and Forecasting

Develop operational oceanography aiming at meeting research and societal needs related to monitoring and management of the marine environment, marine resources, marine safety, as well as weather and seasonal climate forecasts.
Description & Objectives
Research Description
The research comprises development and validation of modelling of ocean circulation, sea ice dynamics and the marine ecosystem. Advanced data assimilation methods, based on the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) and originally introduced at Nansen Center, are applied to realistic forecasts of ocean and sea-ice state variables. The main research activities relates to the development, validation and interpretation of the ToPAZ ocean forecasting system (http://topaz.nersc.no) covering the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
The ToPAZ ocean modelling system are transferable to other oceans and has also been implemented for Barents, Norwegian and Greenland Seas, the Indian Ocean, the Agulhas Current and the Southern Ocean, South China Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
The Nansen Center is co-organizing the yearly international EnKF workshop together with Uni Centre for Integrated Petroleum Research (CIPR) and International Research Institute of Stavanger (IRIS).
Specific Research Objectives
- To advance and validate the TOPAZ data assimilation and marine forecasting system for the North Atlantic, the Nordic Seas and the Arctic Oceans.
- To study past seasonal to interannual ocean variability by reanalyses of the TOPAZ assimilative system.
- To diversify the TOPAZ system for studies of coupled ocean, sea-ice and ecosystem processes, with joint assimilation of new types of satellite, ocean acoustics and in situ data.
- To implement and validate nested versions of the TOPAZ system in various oceans such as the Barents, Norwegian and Greenland Seas, the Indian Ocean, the Agulhas Current and the Southern Ocean, South China Sea and Gulf of Mexico, with special emphasis on meso-scale processes.
- To develop new data assimilation methods related to the Ensemble Kalman Filter, and apply the methods in new fields of applications.
Staff
Name | Area of Expertise |
---|---|
Achref Othmani | oceanography |
Annette Samuelsen | oceanography |
Antonio Bonaduce | oceanography |
Bjørn Backeberg | oceanography |
Çağlar Yumruktepe | oceanography |
Denis Demchev | remote sensing |
François Counillon |
data assimilation oceanography sea ice |
Geir Evensen |
computer science geo-sciences mathematics |
Guillaume Boutin |
oceanography sea ice |
Jiping Xie | data assimilation |
Johnny A. Johannessen |
oceanography remote sensing |
Julien Brajard |
computer science data assimilation geo-sciences mathematics oceanography remote sensing statistics |
Sukun Cheng | data assimilation |
Tsuyoshi Wakamatsu | |
Yanchun He | oceanography |
Yiguo Wang | data assimilation |
Yongqi Gao | oceanography |
Projects
CoRea
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The CoRea is a "Young Research Talents" Project funded by the Research Council of Norway.
Arktalas
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The Arktalas project aims to remove knowledge gaps and advance the insight and quantitative understanding of sea ice, ocean and atmosphere interactive processes and their mutual feedback
INTAROS
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Climate Dynamics and Prediction, Polar Acoustics and Oceanography, Scientific Data Management
INTAROS is a research and innovation action under the H2020-BG-09 call in 2016 and will run from 2016 to 2021.
NMDC
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Scientific Data Management
16 Norwegian institutions are establishing a research infrastructure NMDC that will provide seamless access to marine data, greatly increase the efficiency of marine science in Norway and facilitate the generation of high quality research.