Project funded by the Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare

VERSIONE ITALIANA

The Operational Sicily Strait Forecast System provides a daily 5-days forecast of the 3D ocean characteristics (temperature, salinity, etc.) and circulation in the Sicily Strait region. The covered domain is: 008.95°E-017.1°E, 30°N-39.5°N. The system is one-way asynchronously nested to the coarse OGCM (1/16° horizontal resolution) of the whole Mediterranean basin developed at the Dynamics and Climatology Unit of the INGV in Bologna. A the surface the system is forced through momentum fluxes, heat and "water" calculated from the atmospheric parameter fields of high or coarse weather forecast systems. A version with 1/32° horizontal resolution has been developed within the framework of MFSTEP project and operative since 2004 (named SCRM3230). A simulation of the last seven days of analysis fields released once a week is also available, then producing a monthly mean climatology. An update version at 1/48° horizontal resolution has been recently released and is available on-line in the framework of the ECOOP project. It has been operative since 2009 (named SCRM4830).

The numerical simulation system of the coastal circulation provides a daily forecast, to maximum 3 days, of the barotropic current velocities in the Oristano Gulf, Lagoon systems and in the surrounding coastal areas. The core of the forecasting system is the SHYFEM, a finite element hydrodynamic numerical model that has been already validated and calibrated in the Oristano Gulf and Lagoon system in previous studies. Such a model well reproduces the tide and wind induced water circulation in the study area where it is applied in its 2D version in order to reproduce the barotropic current velocities. Numerical simulations are carried out over a computational covered domain that is: 008°15' - 008°35' E; 39°40' - 40°05' N, by means of a finite element staggered grid. The numerical grid consists of 21602 nodes and 40068 triangular elements and is characterized by different spatial resolutions varying from 10m, for the smallest channels connecting the Cabras lagoon and the Oristano Gulf, to few kms in the off-shore areas of the Sardinian Sea. The model considers the off-shore perimeter of the computational domain as open boundary. The model is forced by an astronomic tide imposed at the open boundary and by a wind intensity and direction imposed as surface boundary condition. Meteorological data are provided by atmospheric simulations carried out at the Athens University by means of the SKIRON atmospheric numerical model.

Bonifacio Strait & La Maddalena Archipelago

The numerical simulation system of the coastal circulation provides two daily forecasts, to maximum 3 days each, of the barotropic current velocities in the Bonifacio Strait and La Maddalena Archipelago at steps of 6 hours. The core of the forecasting system is the SHYFEM, a finite element hydrodynamic numerical model that has been already validated and calibrated in previous studies (Ferrarin et al., 2004, Cucco et al., 2006). Such a model well reproduces the tide and wind induced water circulation in the study area where it is applied in its 2D version in order to reproduce the barotropic current velocities. Numerical simulations are carried out over a computational domain that represents the area between 009°6.899' and 009°37.06' of longitude E and, 41°6.2' and 41°25.683' of latitude N, by means of a finite element staggered grid. The numerical grid consists of 40000 nodes and 70000 triangular elements and is characterized by different spatial resolutions varying from 10m, for the smallest channels in the La Maddalena Archipelago, to few kms in the off-shore areas inside and outside the Bonifacio Strait. The model considers the off-shore perimeter of the computational domain as open boundary. The model is forced by an astronomic tide imposed at the open boundary and by a wind intensity and direction imposed as surface boundary condition. Meteorological data are provided by means of the SKIRON high resolution atmospheric numerical model.