SOCIB operational ocean forecasting system and multi-platform validation in the western Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

This paper describes the high-resolution Western Mediterranean Sea Operational Forecasting System (WMOP) developed at the Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB). The system runs on a daily basis driven by high-resolution atmospheric forcing, providing 3-day forecasts of physical oceanic variables with a 2 km horizontal resolution, thus representing the ocean variability from mesoscale to basin scale from the Gibraltar Strait to the Sardinia Channel. A systematic regional monitoring and validation system has been developed using multi-platform observations, allowing the evaluation of both the overall realism of the predictions and the specific errors in each sub-basin.