Autonomous Environmental Surveying for Ocean Prediction

The northeast Atlantic has been likened to a fan-assisted storage heater. Heat comes from the Gulf Stream via the North Atlantic Current (NAC), with additional seasonal solar warming. In winter huge quantities of ocean heat are released into the atmosphere by a succession of storms, predominantly blowing the warmed air over northern Europe. The portion of ocean heat not released into the atmosphere continues northward, some deflecting into the northern North Sea. To address model biases in the northern North Sea, the MOGli program (Met Office Gliders) currently provides NRT glider temperature and salinity data for model assimilation in this region. AESOP complements this work by enabling the near-continuous occupation of the European shelf edge by gliders. Further, the value of the in-situ NRT data is evaluated by comparing forecast skill with and without the glider data assimilation.

Aims

· Provide continuous NRT data from the upper 1000m of the northeast Atlantic ocean for assimilation into operational coupled ocean/atmosphere forecast models.

Objectives

· To augment the existing Ellett Array glider programme in the eastern Rockall Trough with additional missions to provide continuous NRT temperature and salinity profiles via BODC to the UK Met Office for assimilation into the AMM15 component of the FOAM operational forecast system.

· Evaluate the performance of forecast ensembles with and without the augmented Ellett Array data.

Role of SAMS

· Provide continuous NRT data from the upper 1000m of the northeast Atlantic ocean for assimilation into operational coupled ocean/atmosphere forecast models.

· Evaluate the performance of forecast ensembles with and without the augmented Ellett Array data.