Data assimilation within the Forecasting Ocean Atmosphere Model (FOAM)

FOAM, the Forecasting Ocean Atmosphere Model, is a system designed to produce analyses and short-range forecasts for the deep ocean. At the heart of FOAM is a standard numerical model of the ocean. The system uses the “analysis correction” scheme to analyse observations. The main advantages of this scheme are that it is relatively inexpensive (especially when compared with full variational methods); and that it results in balanced fields for the model. Tests of the data assimilation scheme have been run, initially for a version of the model covering the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. For these, the model used observations received in real time at the UK Met. Office from the Global Telecommunications System of the World Meteorological Organisation