Presenter
Jay Veeramony, Ph.D.
Oceanographer, Ocean Sciences Division
Naval Research Lab, Stennis Space Center
Description
Knowledge of the ocean environment is integral to the interests typical to the coastal and nearshore regions, impacting various activities such as trade, recreation, preservation and sometimes humanitarian support. For coastal circulation, Delft3D, which is comprised of a number of different modules that can be coupled with each other, is the model of choice at the US Navy forecast center. Most applications for daily operational predictions use only the FLOW module, which predicts the currents, mean water levels, temperature and salinity. Inputs to the model include winds, tides, general ocean circulation predicted by global models, waves, daily river discharges, temperature and salinity. Delft3D-FLOW is coupled with the WAVE module for areas where wave effects are of importance. The WAVE module used the wave model Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN), which predicts the wave energy as a function of frequency and direction and is forced by winds as well as waves at the offshore boundaries predicted by global simulations using WaveWatch III. The coupled system is used for both daily predictions and during extreme events such as tropical cyclones. In this presentation, the models as well as some of the applications at the forecast center is highlighted.
