Operational models hierarchy for short term marine predictions: The Adriatic Sea example

A hierarchy of medium (2 km) and high (0.5 km) resolution operational models cast in the Adriatic sea (NE Mediterranean Sea), relying on an updated core w.r.t. previously existing one, characterized by having a wide variety of applications ranging from civil protection to scientific ones, is presented and described. The computing core of the system sits at Hydro-Meteo-Clima Service (SIMC, Bologna), and the scientific supervision is provided by DISVA Polytechnic University of Marche and CNR-ISMAR Venice. The core of the operational system is based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System, version 3.4. The hydrodynamic variables (e.g. sea surface elevation, currents, temperature, salinity, storm surge height), and wave parameters are predicted every day for the next 72 hours. The surface forcing for the hydrodynamic (AdriaROMS 4.0) and wave (SWAN) operational models is derived from the predicted results of the operational meteorological model COSMO-I7 (7 km resolution) which forecasts atmospheric fields over the whole Italian seas. Hydrodynamic results are verified against oceanographic and wave buoys, tide gauges, bottom mounted acoustic current meter profilers, available in the coastal waters of the Adriatic Sea and oceanographic surveys. More specifically, CNR-ISMAR in the northern Adriatic Sea manages a meteo-oceanographic buoy network and the fixed ocean observatory tower “Acqua Alta”, SIMC manages a wave buoy. Aiming to obtain forecast improvements in coastal areas of northern Adriatic Sea, a newly implemented, more resolved (0.5 km) ROMS version two-way coupled with SWAN is nested in the operational AdriaROMS 4.0 covering the Adriatic Sea at 2 km horizontal resolution. Outputs of operational models drive dedicated submodels for oil-spill transport and dispersion, coastal morphodymanic, sediment transport, saline wedge, water quality.