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Climate observations inform about the past and present state of the climate system. They underpin climate science, feed into policies for adaptation and mitigation, and increase awareness of the impacts of climate change. The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), a body of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), assesses the maturity of the required observing system and gives guidance for its development. The Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) are central to GCOS, and the global community must monitor them with the highest standards in the form of Climate Data Records (CDR). Today, a single ECV—the sea ice ECV—encapsulates all aspects of the sea ice environment. In the early 1990s it was a single variable (sea ice concentration) but is today an umbrella for four variables (adding thickness, edge/extent, and drift). In this contribution, we argue that GCOS should from now on consider a set of seven ECVs (sea ice concentration, thickness, snow depth, surface temperature, surface albedo, age, and drift). These seven ECVs are critical and cost effective to monitor with existing satellite Earth observation capability. We advise against placing these new variables under the umbrella of the single sea ice ECV. To start a set of distinct ECVs is indeed critical to avoid adding to the suboptimal situation we experience today and to reconcile the sea ice variables with the practice in other ECV domains.

In the framework of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service, Mercator Ocean International operates a global high-resolution forecasting systems at the resolution of 1/12°. Increasing resolution appears necessary to improve the quality of service and to satisfy the users’ needs in the operational application (Le Traon, 2019). Resolving scales below 100 kilometers, and in particular sub mesoscale processes (1-50 km), appears to be essential to better represent the circulation in the open ocean (Chassignet, 2017), and, to improve the large-scale representations thanks to a more explicit energy transfers between finer and larger scales (Fox-Kemper Baylor, 2019). A deeper understanding of their various contributions (geostrophic flows, tidal motions, waves, inertial currents) and their role in the global ocean kinetic energy budget will improve the knowledge of these energy transfers between different scales. In 2019, it has been decided to go towards higher resolution and develop a new global sub mesoscale-permitting model. Benefiting from the context of the European H2020 IMMERSE project, a new 1/36° global configuration (2 to 3 km resolution), based on the NEMO 4.2 OGCM, has been developed. Thanks to the resolution increase, this model can resolve the Rossby radius in almost all open oceans areas at global scale quite everywhere and to span a large part of the internal wave spectrum. In 2022, a hierarchy of multi-year simulations at 1/4°, 1/12° and 1/36° resolution and with/without explicit tide representation has been performed: for each resolution, after a 3-years spin up without tidal forcing, 2 twin 3-years runs have been realized: one without tidal forcing and one forced by the 5 tidal components K1, O1, S2, M2, N2. These models are driven at the surface by the 8km/1hour ECMWF IFS system. Atmospheric pressure forcing have been activated. We propose a first evaluation of the benefits due to the resolution increase and tidal forcing. Circulation, energy, tidal representation and mixing of the experiments are compared to each other’s.

International audience; Velocities in Drake Passage from the 25-year GLORYS12 Mercator Ocean reanalysis were compared with satellite altimetry-derived surface velocities and independent in-situ velocity measurements from the DRAKE (2006-2009) and cDrake (2007-2011) experiments. GLORYS12 assimilates satellite along-track sea level anomalies and, as expected, model velocities are in rather good agreement with gridded altimetry derived velocities (r ~ 0.5, above 99% confidence level). GLORYS12 velocities also compared well with the currentmeter data from the DRAKE (in the water column) and cDrake (50 m above seafloor) experiments in terms of means and standard deviations; most correlations between the reanalysis and directly measured velocity time series were significant (r ~ 0.5 for DRAKE and r ~ 0.4 for cDrake, above 99% confidence level). We used the GLORYS12 reanalysis to examine the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) total volume transport across three sections in Drake Passage. The 25 years of the ACC total volume transport has a mean of 155 ± 3 Sv and a standard deviation of 6.7 Sv. Annual mean values span over a range of 12 Sv. The spectrum of the GLORYS12 total transport time series shows energy peaks (above 95% confidence level) at the intraseasonal, semi-annual and annual periods and no significant low-frequency variations (beyond 2 years) or trend, in agreement with previous studies. This first assessment of GLORYS12 velocities in Drake Passage is very encouraging for monitoring the regional variability of the ACC.

Ocean convective events are triggered by vertical density instabilities, e.g., following significant surface heat loss at dusk or upon sea-ice formation. They have a significant impact on the vertical distribution of ocean heat, salt, and biogeochemical content, most frequently in its shallowest few hundreds of meters, but also occasionally much deeper. The representation of such events within ocean models requires a specific treatment adapted to vertically nonlocal processes, since most turbulent closure schemes are based upon Boussinesq-derived diffusivity coefficients and are thus fundamentally local. Consequently, different methods have been employed for making vertical diffusion schemes also accounting for convection. Past examples used in NEMO include, e.g., adding a nonlocal term in the diffusivity parameterization (e.g., K-profile) or simply enhancing the vertical diffusivity. Another more recent example is the mass-flux convective (MFC) scheme, which has recently been adapted for the NEMO ocean model and can be used as a convective complement to any diffusion-only scheme (e.g., scaled from turbulent kinetic energy). The MFC scheme allows generating subgrid-scale buoyancy-driven convective plumes which can reach down to 2000m depth in extreme cases. Within the plumes, physical quantities of interest (e.g., temperature, salinity) are vertically transported independently from the large-scale model dynamics, at velocities which can exceed by far anything permitting by it (up to 20 cm s-1) implying fast, deep-reaching vertical mixing. Hence, in addition to local fluxes associated with small, diffusion-related eddies, the large-scale model solution can also be affected by nonlocal convective fluxes associated with large eddies produced by the MFC scheme. In this talk, we present new developments and tests related to the MFC parameterization. Namely, we introduce the application of this scheme to passive biogeochemical tracers, as well as turbulent kinetic energy and model dynamics (i.e., ocean velocities). Results over 1D configurations illustrating the impact of these novelties are presented. Finally, we also show first results over a NEMO global 1/4° configuration involving previously unexplored convection-prone conditions, such as sea-ice formation.

As the sea‐ice modeling community is shifting to advanced numerical frameworks, developing new sea‐ice rheologies, and increasing model spatial resolution, ubiquitous deformation features in the Arctic sea ice are now being resolved by sea‐ice models. Initiated at the Forum for Arctic Modeling and Observational Synthesis, the Sea Ice Rheology Experiment (SIREx) aims at evaluating state‐of‐the‐art sea‐ice models using existing and new metrics to understand how the simulated deformation fields are affected by different representations of sea‐ice physics (rheology) and by model configuration. Part 1 of the SIREx analysis is concerned with evaluation of the statistical distribution and scaling properties of sea‐ice deformation fields from 35 different simulations against those from the RADARSAT Geophysical Processor System (RGPS). For the first time, the viscous‐plastic (and the elastic‐viscous‐plastic variant), elastic‐anisotropic‐plastic, and Maxwell‐elasto‐brittle rheologies are compared in a single study. We find that both plastic and brittle sea‐ice rheologies have the potential to reproduce the observed RGPS deformation statistics, including multi‐fractality. Model configuration (e.g., numerical convergence, atmospheric representation, spatial resolution) and physical parameterizations (e.g., ice strength parameters and ice thickness distribution) both have effects as important as the choice of sea‐ice rheology on the deformation statistics. It is therefore not straightforward to attribute model performance to a specific rheological framework using current deformation metrics. In light of these results, we further evaluate the statistical properties of simulated Linear Kinematic Features in a SIREx Part 2 companion paper. Plain Language Summary: The ice in the Arctic Ocean is not continuous: it is broken into individual pieces of ice (floes). As the winds and ocean currents continually move these ice floes, they get piled up together or pushed away from each other, forming regions of increased ice thickness (ridges) or regions of open water (leads). These leads and ridges (ice deformations) are important features of the Arctic pack ice because they control the amount of energy that can be exchanged between the atmosphere and the ocean. Current climate models cannot simulate individual ice floes and their deformations. Instead, various methods are used to represent the movement and deformation of the Arctic sea‐ice cover. The goal of the Sea Ice Rheology Experiment (SIREx) is to compare these different methods and evaluate the ability of a large number of sea‐ice models to reproduce observed sea‐ice deformations from satellite imagery. SIREx is divided in two parts. In Part 1 (this study), we evaluate how the intensity of ice deformations varies in space and time. In Part 2 (companion paper), we track and evaluate the occurrence of specific deformation features. With this work, we show how to improve sea‐ice models for realistic simulations of sea‐ice deformations. Key Points: Power law scaling and multi‐fractality of deformations in space and time can be achieved by both plastic and brittle sea‐ice rheologies Scaling statistics of simulated sea‐ice deformation fields depend on the model configuration and physical parameterizations Finite‐difference plastic models need to be run at higher resolution than observations to agree with the observed deformation statistics

The relatively stable conditions of the sea ice cover in the Antarctic, observed for almost 40 years, seem to be changing recently. Therefore, it is essential to provide sea ice thickness (SIT) and volume (SIV) estimates in order to anticipate potential multi-scale changes in the Antarctic sea ice. For that purpose, the main objectives of this work are: (1) to assess a new sea ice freeboard, thickness and volume altimetry dataset over 2003–2020 and (2) to identify first order impacts of the sea ice recent conditions. To produce these series, we use a neuronal network to calibrate Envisat radar freeboards onto CryoSat-2 (CS2). This method addresses the impacts of surface roughness on Low Resolution Mode (LRM) measurements. During the 2011 common flight period, we found a mean deviation between Envisat and CryoSat-2 radar freeboards by about 0.5 cm. Using the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) and the dual-frequency Altimetric Snow Depth (ASD) data, our solutions are compared with the Upward looking sonar (ULS) draft data, some in-situ measurement of the SIMBA campaign, the total freeboards of 6 Operation Ice Bridge (OIB) missions and ICESat-2 total freeboards. Over 2003–2020, the global mean radar freeboard decreased by about −14% per decade and the SIT and SIV by about −10% per decade (considering a snow depth climatology). This is marked by a slight increase through 2015, which is directly followed by a strong decrease in 2016. Thereafter, freeboards generally remained low and even continued to decrease in some regions such as the Weddell sea. Considering the 2013–2020 period, for which the ASD data are available, radar freeboards and SIT decreased by about −40% per decade. The SIV decreased by about −60% per decade. After 2016, the low SIT values contrast with the sea ice extent that has rather increased again, reaching near-average values in winter 2020. The regional analysis underlines that such thinning (from 2016) occurs in all regions except the Amundsen-Bellingshausen sea sector. Meanwhile, we observed a reversal of the main regional trends from 2016, which may be the signature of significant ongoing changes in the Antarctic sea ice.

The formation of cheese flavor mainly results from the production of volatile compounds by microorganisms. We investigated how fine-tuning cheese-making process parameters changed the cheese volatilome in a semi-hard cheese inoculated with

As the sea-ice modeling community is shifting to advanced numerical frameworks, developing new sea-ice rheologies, and increasing model spatial resolution, ubiquitous deformation features in the Ar...

Although snow depth on sea ice is a key parameter for Sea Ice Thickness (SIT), there currently does not exist reliable estimations. In Arctic, nearly all SIT products use a snow depth climatology (the Warren-99 modified climatology, W99m) constructed from in-situ data obtained prior to the first significant impacts of climate change. In Antarctica, the lack of information on snow depth remains a major obstacle in the development of reliable SIT products. In this study, we present the latest version of the Altimetric Snow Depth (ASD) product computed over both hemispheres from the difference of the radar penetration into the snow pack between the CryoSat-2 Ku-band and the SARAL Ka-band frequency radars. The ASD solution is compared against a wide range of snow depth products including model data (Pan-Arctic Ice-Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) or its equivalent in Antarctica the Global Ice-Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (GIOMAS), the MERCATOR model and NASA's Eulerian Snow On Sea Ice Model (NESOSIM, only in Arctic)), the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR-2) passive radiometer data, and the Dual-altimeter Snow Thickness (DuST) Ka-Ku product (only in Arctic). It is validated in the Arctic against in-situ and airborne validation data. These comparisons demonstrate that ASD provide a consistent snow depth solution, with space and time patterns comparable with those of the alternative Ka-Ku DuST product, but with a mean bias of about 6.5 cm. We also demonstrate that ASD is consistent with the validation data. Comparisons with Operation Ice Bridge's (OIB) airborne snow radar in Arctic during the period of 2014–2018 show a correlation of 0.66 and a RMSE of about 6 cm. Furthermore, a first-guess monthly climatology has been constructed in Arctic from the ASD product, which shows a good agreement with OIB during 2009–2012. This climatology is shown to provide a better solution than the W99m climatology when compared with validation data. Finally, we have characterised the SIT uncertainty due to the snow depth from an ensemble of SIT solutions computed for the Arctic by using the different snow depth products previously used in the comparison with the ASD product. During the period of 2013–2019, we found a spatially averaged SIT mean standard deviation of 20 cm. Deviations between SIT estimations due to different snow depths can reach up to 77 cm. Using the ASD data instead of W99m to estimate SIT over this time period leads to a reduction of the average SIT of about 30 cm.

Atlantic Water (AW) enters the Arctic through Fram Strait as the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC). When reaching the south of Yermak Plateau, the WSC splits into the Svalbard, Yermak Pass and Yermak Branches. Downstream of Yermak Plateau, AW pathways remain unclear and uncertainties persist on how AW branches eventually merge and contribute to the boundary current along the continental slope. We took advantage of the good performance of the 1/12° Mercator Ocean model in the Western Nansen Basin (WNB) to examine the AW circulation and volume transports in the area. The model showed that the circulation changed in 2008-2020. The Yermak Branch strengthened over the northern Yermak Plateau, feeding the Return Yermak Branch along the eastern flank of the Plateau. West of Yermak Plateau, the Transpolar Drift likely shifted westward while AW recirculations progressed further north. Downstream of the Yermak Plateau, an offshore current developed above the 3800 m isobath, fed by waters from the Yermak Plateau tip. East of 18°E, enhanced mesoscale activity from the boundary current injected additional AW basin-ward, further contributing to the offshore circulation. A recurrent anticyclonic circulation in Sofia Deep developed, which also occasionally fed the western part of the offshore flow. The intensification of the circulation coincided with an overall warming in the upper WNB (0-1000 m), consistent with the progression of AW. This regional description of the changing circulation provides a background for the interpretation of upcoming observations.

We present the first sensor‐based profiles of the quasi‐conservative NO parameter obtained with an autonomous ice‐tethered buoy in the Arctic Ocean. Data documented the halocline in the Transpolar Drift and Nansen Basin in 2017. A NO minimum was found in the Nansen Basin on a σ‐horizon of 27.8 kg·m−3 corresponding to the lower halocline, while a lower NO minimum of 380 μM straddled the 27.4 σ‐horizon and marked the cold halocline in the Transpolar Drift. Back trajectories of water parcels encountered along the buoy drift were computed using the Mercator physical system. They suggested that waters within the NO minimum at 27.4 kg·m−3 could be traced back to the East Siberian Sea continental. These trajectories conformed with the prevailing positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation. The base of the lower halocline, at the 27.85 σ‐horizon, corresponded to the density attained in the deepest winter mixed layer north of Svalbard and cyclonically slowly advected from the slope into the central Nansen Basin. The 27.85 σ‐horizon is associated with an absolute salinity of 34.9 g·kg−1, a significantly more saline level than the 34.3 psu isohaline commonly used to identify the base of the lower halocline. This denser and more saline level is in accordance with the deeper winter mixed layers observed on the slopes of Nansen Basin in the last 10 years. A combination of simulations and NO parameter estimates provided valuable insights into the structure, source, and strength of the Arctic halocline.

The GLORYS12V1 system is a global eddy-resolving physical ocean and sea ice reanalysis at 1/12° resolution covering the 1993-present altimetry period, designed and implemented in the framework of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS). All the essential ocean physical variables from this reanalysis are available with free access through the CMEMS data portal.The GLORYS12V1 reanalysis is based on the current CMEMS global real-time forecasting system, apart from a few specificities that are detailed in this manuscript. The model component is the NEMO platform driven at the surface by atmospheric conditions from the ECMWF ERA-Interim reanalysis. Ocean observations are assimilated by means of a reduced-order Kalman filter. Along track altimeter sea level anomaly, satellite sea surface temperature and sea ice concentration data and in situ temperature and salinity (T/S) vertical profiles are jointly assimilated. A 3D-VAR scheme provides an additional correction for the slowly-evolving large-scale biases in temperature and salinity.The performance of the reanalysis is first addressed in the space of the assimilated observations and shows a clear dependency on the time-dependent in situ observation system, which is intrinsic to most reanalyses. The general assessment of GLORYS12V1 highlights a level of performance at the state-of-the-art and the reliability of the system to correctly capture the main expected climatic interannual variability signals for ocean and sea ice, the general circulation and the inter-basins exchanges. In terms of trends, GLORYS12V1 shows a higher than observed warming trend together with a lower than observed global mean sea level rise.Comparisons made with an experiment carried out on the same platform without assimilation show the benefit of data assimilation in controlling water masses properties and their low frequency variability. Examination of the deep signals below 2000 m depth shows that the reanalysis does not suffer from artificial signals even in the pre-Argo period.Moreover, GLORYS12V1 represents particularly well the small-scale variability of surface dynamics and compares well with independent (non-assimilated) data. Comparisons made with a twin experiment carried out at ¼° resolution allows characterizing and quantifying the strengthened contribution of the 1/12° resolution onto the downscaled dynamics.In conclusion, GLORYS12V1 provides a reliable physical ocean state for climate variability and supports applications such as seasonal forecasts. In addition, this reanalysis has strong assets to serve regional applications and should provide relevant physical conditions for applications such as marine biogeochemistry. In a near future, GLORYS12V1 will be maintained to be as close as possible to real time and could therefore provide a relevant reference statistical framework for many operational applications.

The Atlantic Water (AW) inflow through Fram Strait, largest oceanic heat source to the Arctic Ocean, undergoes substantial modifications in the Western Nansen Basin (WNB). Evaluation of the Mercator system in the WNB, using 1,500 independent temperature‐salinity profiles and five years of mooring data, highlighted its performance in representing realistic AW inflow and hydrographic properties. In particular, favorable comparisons with mooring time‐series documenting deep winter mixed layers and changes in AW properties led us to examine winter conditions in the WNB over the 2007–2020 period. The model helped describe the interannual variations of winter mixed layers and documented several processes at stake in modifying AW beyond winter convection: trough outflows and lateral exchange through vigorous eddies. Recently modified AW, either via local convection or trough outflows, were identified as homogeneous layers of low buoyancy frequency. Over the 2007–2020 period, two winters stood out with extreme deep mixed layers in areas that used to be ice‐covered: 2017/18 over the northern Yermak Plateau‐Sofia Deep; 2012/13 on the continental slope northeast of Svalbard with the coldest and freshest modified AW of the 12‐year time series. The northern Yermak Plateau‐Sofia Deep and continental slope areas became “Marginal Convection Zones” in 2011 with, from then on, occasionally ice‐free conditions, 50‐m‐ocean temperatures always above 0 °C and highly variable mixed layer depths and ocean‐to‐atmosphere heat fluxes. In the WNB where observations require considerable efforts and resources, the Mercator system proved to be a good tool to assess Atlantic Water modifications in winter.

International audience; tlantic Water (AW) enters the Arctic through Fram Strait as the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC). When reaching the south of Yermak Plateau, the WSC splits into the Svalbard, Yermak Pass, and Yermak Branches. Downstream of Yermak Plateau, AW pathways remain unclear and uncertainties persist on how AW branches eventually merge and contribute to the boundary current along the continental slope. We took advantage of the good performance of the 1/12° Mercator Ocean model in the Western Nansen Basin (WNB) to examine the AW circulation and volume transports in the area. The model showed that the circulation changed in 2008–2020. The Yermak Branch (YB) strengthened over the northern Yermak Plateau, feeding the Return YB along the eastern flank of the Plateau. West of Yermak Plateau, the Transpolar Drift likely shifted westward while AW recirculations progressed further north. Downstream of the Yermak Plateau, an offshore current developed above the 3,800 m isobath, fed by waters from the Yermak Plateau tip. East of 18°E, enhanced mesoscale activity from the boundary current injected additional AW basin‐ward, further contributing to the offshore circulation. A recurrent anticyclonic circulation developed in the Sofia Deep, which also occasionally fed the western part of the offshore flow. The intensification of the circulation coincided with an overall warming in the upper WNB (0–1,000 m), consistent with the progression of AW. This regional description of the changing circulation provides a background for the interpretation of upcoming observations.

International audience; The Atlantic Water (AW) inflow through Fram Strait, largest oceanic heat source to the Arctic Ocean, undergoes substantial modifications in the Western Nansen Basin (WNB). Evaluation of the Mercator system in the WNB, using 1,500 independent temperature‐salinity profiles and five years of mooring data, highlighted its performance in representing realistic AW inflow and hydrographic properties. In particular, favorable comparisons with mooring time‐series documenting deep winter mixed layers and changes in AW properties led us to examine winter conditions in the WNB over the 2007–2020 period. The model helped describe the interannual variations of winter mixed layers and documented several processes at stake in modifying AW beyond winter convection: trough outflows and lateral exchange through vigorous eddies. Recently modified AW, either via local convection or trough outflows, were identified as homogeneous layers of low buoyancy frequency. Over the 2007–2020 period, two winters stood out with extreme deep mixed layers in areas that used to be ice‐covered: 2017/18 over the northern Yermak Plateau‐Sofia Deep; 2012/13 on the continental slope northeast of Svalbard with the coldest and freshest modified AW of the 12‐year time series. The northern Yermak Plateau‐Sofia Deep and continental slope areas became “Marginal Convection Zones” in 2011 with, from then on, occasionally ice‐free conditions, 50‐m‐ocean temperatures always above 0 °C and highly variable mixed layer depths and ocean‐to‐atmosphere heat fluxes. In the WNB where observations require considerable efforts and resources, the Mercator system proved to be a good tool to assess Atlantic Water modifications in winter.

Greenland experienced intensive melting over the last century, especially in the 1920s and over the last decades. The supplementary input into the ocean is influencing the freshwater budget of the North Atlantic. Simultaneously, some signs of a recent weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) have been reported. In order to better understand the possible impact of the melting on the North Atlantic circulation, salinity and temperature trends, we construct an observation-based estimate of the freshwater fluxes from 1840 to 2014 associated to the runoff fluxes from Greenland ice sheet and surrounding glaciers and ice caps. Input from iceberg melting is also included and spatially distributed over the North Atlantic following an observed climatology. We force historical simulations of the IPSL-CM6A-LR coupled climate model with this reconstruction from 1920 to 2014. The 10-member ensemble mean displays freshened and cooled waters around Greenland, which spread in the subpolar gyre, and then towards the subtropical gyre and the Nordic Seas. Over the whole period, the convection is reduced in the Labrador and Nordic Seas, while it is slightly enhanced in the Irminger Sea, and the AMOC is reduced by 0.32±0.35 Sv at 26°N. This highlights that the AMOC decrease due to Greenland melting remains modest in these simulations and can only explain a very moderate amount of the 3±1 Sv weakening suggested in a recent study. The multi-decadal trend of the North Atlantic surface temperature obtained with the additional freshwater forcing is more in line with observations than in standard historical simulations. We also show a clear improvement of the representation of the 1995 abrupt warming in the subpolar gyre in the melting ensemble, which may thus be partly forced by Greenland ice sheet melting. Mechanisms at play imply changes in the variability of the AMOC in the melting ensemble as compared to the historical one. Such an impact on forced decadal variability has crucial consequences for decadal prediction systems that may gain skill by including observed Greenland ice sheet melting.

Since 2016, the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) has produced and disseminated an ensemble of four global ocean reanalyses produced at eddy-permitting resolution for the period from 1993 to present, called GREP (Global ocean Reanalysis Ensemble Product). This dataset offers the possibility to investigate the potential benefits of a multi-system approach for ocean reanalyses, since the four reanalyses span by construction the same spatial and temporal scales. In particular, our investigations focus on the added value of the information on the ensemble spread, implicitly contained in the GREP ensemble, for temperature, salinity, and steric sea level studies. It is shown that in spite of the small ensemble size, the spread is capable of estimating the flow-dependent uncertainty in the ensemble mean, although proper re-scaling is needed to achieve reliability. The GREP members also exhibit larger consistency (smaller spread) than their predecessors, suggesting advancement with time of the reanalysis vintage. The uncertainty information is crucial for monitoring the climate of the ocean, even at regional level, as GREP shows consistency with CMEMS high-resolution regional products and complement the regional estimates with uncertainty estimates. Further applications of the spread include the monitoring of the impact of changes in ocean observing networks; the use of multi-model ensemble anomalies in hybrid ensemble-variational retrospective analysis systems, which outperform static covariances and represent a promising application of GREP. Overall, the spread information of the GREP product is found to significantly contribute to the crucial requirement of uncertainty estimates for climatic datasets.

We examine the surface and subsurface signature of ocean fronts closely associated with the Malvinas Current dynamics. We first evaluate the performances of the Mercator Ocean eddy permitting (1/12° spatial resolution) global operational system in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean over the last 10 years (2007–2016) using satellite, Argo float and in situ data collected near 41°S. Observations versus model comparisons show that the model correctly reproduces the general circulation and the complex hydrographic features of the study area including the vicinity of the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence. The model outputs accurately match the observations except in June 2015. The causes for the June 2015 mismatch are analyzed. We then used the model and satellite altimetry to identify isolines of absolute dynamic topography (ADT) and potential density at different depths associated with the mean front location and establish their correspondence with specific water mass boundaries. Frontal displacements as depicted in satellite ADT, model ADT, and model potential density at 450 m are in general agreement. The ADT and potential density at 450 m provide nonidentical and complementary information on eddies shed by the Polar Front (PF): while ADT depicts the surface circulation with PF eddies entrained into the energetic circulation over the deep Argentine Basin, potential density at 450 m is more effective at monitoring PF eddies feeding the Malvinas Current. Fil: Artana, Camila Indira. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle; Francia. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Lellouche, Jean Michel. Mercator Ocean; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia Fil: Park, Young Hyang. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle; Francia. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Garric, Gilles. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia. Mercator Ocean; Francia Fil: Koenig, Zoé. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle; Francia. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Sennéchael, Nathalie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle; Francia. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia Fil: Ferrari, Ramiro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; Argentina Fil: Piola, Alberto Ricardo. Ministerio de Defensa. Armada Argentina. Servicio de Hidrografía Naval; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Saraceno, Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; Argentina Fil: Provost, Christine. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle; Francia

Continuum sea ice models have been applied close to the presumed limits of their validity for many years, yet they remain compatible with current observations. The resolution requirements for sea ice models varies considerably depending on the application (e.g., large ensembles, paleoclimate simulations, short-range forecasting), and therefore continuum models will likely remain useful for many years to come. Meanwhile, it is highly desirable to explore the potential of DEMs. These models are expected to be more physically faithful at the highest resolutions envisioned for sea ice in ESMs, provided they incorporate all the required processes. DEMs may also prove more efficient for some new computer architectures. Such perspectives highlight the need for the sea ice modeling community to have a clear and consistent vision of the future evolution of HPC systems. Sea ice models are used for many different purposes and therefore benefit from modularity, which allows the activation or exclusion of parameterizations and code features. Thus, users can adjust model complexity to fit their specific application. Considering limited human resources among core sea ice modeling groups, engagement of the wider community has proven a very efficient way to advance large-scale sea ice models. However, there is still scope for further integration of the wider community in model development activities. An important feature of the Laugarvatn sea ice modeling workshop was the open minded atmosphere in which very different views were exchanged. The workshop successfully brought together model developers and users of sea ice models for Earth system modeling, operational forecasting and (re)analyses. International sea ice modeling workshops such as this foster collaboration and community engagement in the field of sea ice modeling. A recommendation from this workshop is that the exercise should be repeated every 2-3 years to maintain community engagement, exchange cutting-edge ideas, and reinforce collaborative momentum. © 2020 American Meteorological Society.

As part of the N-ICE2015 campaign, IAOOS (Ice Atmosphere Ocean Observing System) platforms gathered intensive winter data at the entrance of Atlantic Water (AW) inflow to the Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard. These data are used to examine the performance of the 1/12° resolution Mercator Ocean global operational ice/ocean model in the marginal ice zone north of Svalbard. Modeled sea-ice extent, ocean heat fluxes, mixed layer depths, and AW mass characteristics are in good agreement with observations. Model outputs are then used to put the observations in a larger spatial and temporal context. Model outputs show that AW pathways over and around the Yermak Plateau differ in winter from summer. In winter, the large AW volume transport of the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) (∼4 Sv) proceeds to the North East through 3 branches: the Svalbard Branch (∼0.5 Sv) along the northern shelf break of Svalbard, the Yermak Branch (∼1.1 Sv) along the western slope of the Yermak Plateau and the Yermak Pass Branch (∼2.0 Sv) through a pass in the Yermak Plateau at 80.8°N. In summer, the AW transport in the WSC is smaller (∼2 Sv) and there is no transport through the Yermak Pass. Although only eddy-permitting in the area, the model suggests an important mesoscale activity throughout the AW flow. The large differences in ice extent between winters 2015 and 2016 follow very distinct atmospheric and oceanic conditions in the preceding summer and autumn seasons. Convection-induced upward heat fluxes maintained the area free of ice in winter 2016. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

The impact of forthcoming wide-swath altimetry missions on the ocean analysis and forecasting system was investigated by means of OSSEs (Observing System Simulation Experiments) performed with a regional data assimilation system, implemented in the Iberian-Biscay-Ireland (IBI) region, at 1/12° resolution using simulated observations derived from a fully eddy-resolving free simulations at 1/36° resolution over the same region. The objective was to asses the contribution of different satellite constellations to constrain the ocean analyses and forecasts, considering both along-track altimeters and future wide-swath missions, and as consequence the capability of the data assimilation techniques used in Mercator Ocean operational system to effectively combine the different kind of measurements. This was carried out as part of a European Space Agency (ESA) study on the potential role of wide-swath altimetry for the evolution of the European Union Copernicus programme. The impact of future wide-swath altimetry data is clearly evident investigating the reliability of sea-level in the OSSEs. The most significant results were obtained looking at the sensitivity of the system to wide-swath instrumental error: considering a constellation of three nadir and two accurate (small instrumental error) wide-swath altimeters, the error in the ocean analysis was reduced up to the 50 %, with respect to conventional altimeters. Investigating the impact of the repetitivity of the future measurements, the results showed that two wide-swath missions had a major impact on the the sea-level forecasting increasing the accuracy over the entire time-window of the 5-day forecasts, with respect to a single wide-swath instrument. A spectral analysis underlined that the contributions of wide-swath altimetry data observed in the ocean analyses and forecasts statistics were mainly due to resolve more accurately (up to > 25 %), with respect to along-track data, the ocean variability at spatial scales smaller than 100 km. Considering the ocean currents, the results confirmed that the information provided by wide-swath measurements at the surface is propagated also in the vertical and has a considerable impact (30 %) on the ocean currents (up to 300 metres), with respect to the present constellation of altimeters. The ocean analysis and forecasting systems used here are currently adopted by Copernicus Marine Environment and Monitoring Service (CMEMS) to provide operational services and ocean re-analysis. The results obtained in the OSSEs considering along-track altimeters were consistent with those derived with real data (observing system experiments, OSEs). OSSEs also allow to evaluate the potential of new observing systems and in this study the results showed that future constellations of altimeters will have a major impact to constrain the CMEMS ocean analysis and forecasting systems and their applications.

Consumer's demand for naturally preserved food products is growing and the use of bioprotective cultures is an alternative to chemical preservatives or a complementary tool to hurdle technologies to avoid or delay fungal spoilage of dairy products. To develop antifungal cultures for the dairy product biopreservation, experiments were conducted both in vitro and in situ. Firstly, the antifungal activity of 32 strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and propionibacteria was screened alone, and then on combinations based on 5 selected lactobacilli strains. This screening was performed in yogurt and cheese models against four major spoilage fungi previously isolated from contaminated dairy products (Penicillium commune, Mucor racemosus, Galactomyces geotrichum, and Yarrowia lipolytica). Selected combinations were then tested as adjunct cultures in sour cream and semi-hard cheeses produced at a pilot scale to evaluate their antifungal activity during challenge tests against selected fungal targets (P. commune, M. racemosus, and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa) and shelf life tests; and their impact on product organoleptic properties. The screening step allowed selecting two binary combinations, A1 and A3 composed of Lactobacillus plantarum L244 and either Lactobacillus harbinensis L172 or Lactobacillus rhamnosus CIRM-BIA1113, respectively. In situ assays showed that the A1 combination delayed the growth of P. commune, M. racemosus and R. mucilaginosa for 2–24 days on sour cream depending of the antifungal culture inoculum, without effect on organoleptic properties at low inoculum (106 colony-forming units (CFU)/mL). Moreover, the A1 and A3 combinations also delayed the growth of P. commune in semi-hard cheese for 1–6 days and 1 day, respectively. Antifungal cultures neither impacted the growth of starter cultures in both sour cream and cheese nor the products' pH, although post acidification was observed in sour cream supplemented with these combinations at the highest concentrations (2.107 CFU/mL). The combination of both in vitro and in situ screening assays allowed developing 2 antifungal combinations exhibiting significant antifungal activity and providing future prospects for use as bioprotective cultures in dairy products.

Since October 19, 2016, and in the framework of Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS), Mercator Ocean delivers in real-time daily services (weekly analyses and daily 10-day forecasts) with a new global 1/12° high resolution (eddy-resolving) monitoring and forecasting system. The model component is the NEMO platform driven at the surface by the IFS ECMWF atmospheric analyses and forecasts. Observations are assimilated by means of a reduced-order Kalman filter with a 3D multivariate modal decomposition of the forecast error. Along track altimeter data, satellite sea surface temperature, sea ice concentration and in situ temperature and salinity vertical profiles are jointly assimilated to estimate the initial conditions for numerical ocean forecasting. A 3D-VAR scheme provides a correction for the slowly-evolving large-scale biases in temperature and salinity. This paper describes the recent updates applied to the system and discusses the importance of fine tuning of an ocean monitoring and forecasting system. It details more particularly the impact of the initialization, the correction of precipitation, the assimilation of climatological temperature and salinity in the deep ocean, the construction of the forecast error covariance and the adaptive tuning of observations error on increasing the realism of the analysis and forecasts. The scientific assessment of the ocean estimations are illustrated with diagnostics over some particular years, assorted with time series over the time period 2007–2016. The overall impact of the integration of all updates on the products quality is also discussed, highlighting a gain in performance and reliability of the current global monitoring and forecasting system compared to its previous version.

Results from a high-resolution ice–ocean model are analyzed to understand the physical processes responsible for the interannual variability of ocean convection over the Irminger Sea. The modeled convection in the open Irminger Sea for the winters of 2007/08 and 2008/09 is in good agreement with observations. Deep convection is caused by strong atmospheric forcing that increases the ocean heat loss through latent and sensible heat fluxes. Greenland tip jets are found to be the only strong wind events that directly affect the deep convection area and explain up to 53% of the total turbulent heat loss during active convection years. Deep convection is modeled where there is favorable preconditioning of the water column due to isopycnal doming inside the semienclosed Irminger Gyre. The region of deep convection is also characterized by weak eddy kinetic energy. Finally, an estimation of the surface-forced water mass transformation confirms the Irminger Sea as a region of intermittent production of Labrador Sea Water, with annual averages between 0.9 and 1.9 Sverdrups (Sv; 1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) of water denser than 27.7 kg m−3 for years of active convection.

Milk fat products (MFP), including butter and low-fat dairy spreads, are a specific type of ready-to-eat food known as water-in-fat emulsions, in which the behavior of microbial foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes is not clearly known. This study investigated the growth and survival of L. monocytogenes, and of Listeria innocua as a surrogate for L. monocytogenes, in these foods using challenge testing. Three commercial MFPs with various fat contents (butter, half butter and low-fat dairy spread) and two samples of traditional churned butter with various water droplet sizes were artificially contaminated with Listeria. Total mesophilic microflora including lactic acid bacteria, pH and Listeria were monitored throughout the shelf life. The growth potential of Listeria was calculated in the course of the shelf life and remains below the limit value of 0.5 log cfu/g during the whole shelf life in any of the butter. However, the concentration of Listeria remained stable during the shelf life in the tested MFPs (commercial and churned) except in the commercial low-fat dairy spread in which Listeria decreased gradually. Practical Applications European Union regulation No. 2073/2005 lays down the microbiological limit criteria for Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods (RTE). According to this regulation, each RTE food has to be classified, with scientific justification, as able or unable to support the growth of L. monocytogenes during the shelf life. This challenge-test study on milk fat products (MFPs) provided some useful data needed to assess the behavior of Listeria in these particular RTE food products. This study showed that while MFPs do not promote growth, they do support Listeria survival. Water droplet size seems to be a key parameter in preventing the growth of both microflora and Listeria. The study also showed that, in order to determine whether a given MFP supports Listeria growth or not, it is crucial to investigate the impact of the variations in physico-chemical and microbiological parameters of each butter-making process used by companies.

Global simulations are presented focusing on the atmosphere-ice-ocean (AIO) surface layer (SL) in the Arctic. Results are produced using an ocean model (NEMO) coupled to two different sea ice models: the Louvain-La-Neuve single-category model (LIM2) and the Los Alamos multicategory model (CICE4). A more objective way to adjust the sea ice-ocean drag is proposed compared to a coefficient tuning approach. The air-ice drag is also adjusted to be more consistent with the atmospheric forcing data set. Improving the AIO SL treatment leads to more realistic results, having a significant impact on the sea ice volume trend, sea ice thickness, and the Arctic freshwater (FW) budget. The physical mechanisms explaining this sensitivity are studied. Improved sea ice drift speeds result in less sea ice accumulation in the Beaufort Sea, correcting a typical ice thickness bias. Sea ice thickness and drag parameters affect how atmospheric stress is transferred to the ocean, thereby influencing Ekman transport and FW retention in the Beaufort Gyre (BG). Increasing sea ice-ocean roughness reduces sea ice growth in winter by reducing ice deformation and lead fractions in the BG. It also increases the total Arctic FW content by reducing sea ice export through Fram Strait. Similarly, increasing air-ice roughness increases the total Arctic FW content by increasing FW retention in the BG.

Recent increases in marine traffic in the Arctic have amplified the demand for reliable ice and marine environmental predictions. This article presents the verification of ice forecast skill from a new system implemented recently at the Canadian Meteorological Centre called the Global Ice Ocean Prediction System (GIOPS). GIOPS provides daily global ice and ocean analyses and 10-day forecasts on a 1/4°-resolution grid. GIOPS includes a multivariate ocean data assimilation system that combines satellite observations of sea-level anomaly and sea-surface temperature (SST) together with in situ observations of temperature and salinity. Ice analyses are produced using a 3D-Var method that assimilates satellite observations from SSM/I and SSMIS together with manual analyses from the Canadian Ice Service. Analyses of total ice concentration are projected onto the thickness categories used in the ice model using spatially and temporally varying weighting functions derived from ice model tendencies. This method may reduce deleterious impacts on the ice thickness distribution when assimilating ice concentration, as it can directly modulate (and reverse) nonlinear processes such as ice deformation. An objective verification of sea ice forecasts is made using two methods: analysis-based error assessment focusing on the marginal ice zone, and a contingency table approach to evaluate ice extent as compared to an independent analysis. Together the methods demonstrate a consistent picture of skilful medium-range forecasts in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres as compared to persistence. Using the contingency table approach, GIOPS forecasts show a significant open-water bias during spring and summer. However, this bias depends on the choice of threshold used. Ice forecast skill is found to be highly sensitive to the assimilation of SST near the ice edge. Improved observational coverage in these areas (including salinity) would be extremely valuable for further improvement in ice forecast skill.

In recent years, the demand for improved environmental forecasts in the Arctic has intensified as maritime transport and offshore exploration increase. As a result, Canada has accepted responsibility for the preparation and issuing services for the new Arctic MET/NAV Areas XVII and XVIII. Environmental forecasts are being developed based on a new integrated Arctic marine prediction system. Here, we present the first phase of this initiative, a short-term pan-Arctic 1/12° resolution Regional Ice Prediction System (RIPS). RIPS is currently set to perform four 48 h forecasts per day. The RIPS forecast model (CICE 4.0) is forced by atmospheric forecasts from the Environment Canada regional deterministic prediction system. It is initialized with a 3D-Var analysis of sea ice concentration and the ice velocity field and thickness distribution from the previous forecast. The other forcing (surface current) and initialization fields (mixed-layer depth, sea surface temperature and salinity) come from the 1/4° resolution Global Ice Ocean Prediction System. Three verification methods for sea ice concentration are presented. Overall, verifications over a complete seasonal cycle (2011) against the Ice Mapping System ice extent product show that RIPS 48 h forecasts are better than persistence during the growth season while they have a lower skill than persistence during the melt period. A better representation of landfast ice, oceanic processes (wave–ice interactions, upwelling events, etc.) in the marginal ice zone and better initializing fields should lead to improved forecasts.

L'Arctique est la région du globe qui s'est réchauffée le plus vite au cours des trente dernières années, avec une augmentation de la température de surface environ deux fois plus rapide que pour la moyenne globale. Le déclin de la banquise arctique observé depuis le début de l'ère satellitaire et attribué principalement à l'augmentation de la concentration des gaz à effet de serre aurait joué un rôle important dans cette amplification des températures au pôle. Cette fonte importante des glaces arctiques, qui devrait s'accélérer dans les décennies à venir, pourrait modifier les vents en haute altitude et potentiellement avoir un impact sur le climat des moyennes latitudes. L'étendue de la banquise arctique varie considérablement d'une saison à l'autre, d'une année à l'autre, d'une décennie à l'autre. Améliorer notre capacité à prévoir ces variations nécessite de comprendre, observer et modéliser les interactions entre la banquise et les autres composantes du système Terre, telles que l'océan, l'atmosphère ou la biosphère, à différentes échelles de temps. La réalisation de prévisions saisonnières de la banquise arctique est très récente comparée aux prévisions du temps ou aux prévisions saisonnières de paramètres météorologiques (température, précipitation). Les résultats ayant émergé au cours des dix dernières années mettent en évidence l'importance des observations de l'épaisseur de la glace de mer pour prévoir l'évolution de la banquise estivale plusieurs mois à l'avance. Surface temperatures over the Arctic region have been increasing twice as fast as global mean temperatures, a phenomenon known as arctic amplification. One main contributor to this polar warming is the large decline of Arctic sea ice observed since the beginning of satellite observations, which has been attributed to the increase of greenhouse gases. The acceleration of Arctic sea ice loss that is projected for the coming decades could modify the upper level atmospheric circulation yielding climate impacts up to the mid-latitudes. There is considerable variability in the spatial extent of ice cover on seasonal, interannual and decadal time scales. Better understanding, observing and modelling the interactions between sea ice and the other components of the climate system is key for improved predictions of Arctic sea ice in the future. Running operational-like seasonal predictions of Arctic sea ice is a quite recent effort compared to weather predictions or seasonal predictions of atmospheric fields like temperature or precipitation. Recent results stress the importance of sea ice thickness observations to improve seasonal predictions of Arctic sea ice conditions during summer.

The solution of a 10 year simulation of the Arctic Ocean, produced using a 6 km resolution coupled ocean and sea-ice model, is analyzed to understand the variability, control, and forcing mechanisms of the volume fluxes through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) and Davis Strait (DS). The analysis focuses on variability at monthly time scales. Analysis confirms the “control” of volume fluxes through the CAA, proposed in previous studies, by (1) variations of sea surface height (SSH) in the “upstream” regions and the relationship of this control to alongshore wind in the Beaufort Sea and (2) by SSH in the “downstream” region in Baffin Bay that may be related to wind stress in Baffin Bay and the northern Labrador Sea. The effectiveness of these control and forcing mechanisms vary for fluxes through different sections and for different seasons. Variation of the southward flux through DS is directly influenced by fluxes through Nares Strait (NS) and Barrow Strait (BS) in summer, fall, and winter. In spring, variations of the southward and northward fluxes through DS are closely related to each other and correspond to changes in the SSH along pathways of the Irminger Current, and the East and West Greenland Currents.

All climate models predict a freshening of the North Atlantic at high latitude that may induce an abrupt change of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (hereafter AMOC) if it resides in the bistable regime, where both a strong and a weak state coexist. The latter remains uncertain as there is no consensus among observations and ocean reanalyses, where the AMOC is bistable, versus most climate models that reproduce a mono-stable strong AMOC. A series of four hindcast simulations of the global ocean at 1/12° resolution, which is presently unique, are used to diagnose freshwater transport by the AMOC in the South Atlantic, an indicator of AMOC bistability. In all simulations, the AMOC resides in the bistable regime: it exports freshwater southward in the South Atlantic, implying a positive salt advection feedback that would act to amplify a decreasing trend in subarctic deep water formation as projected in climate scenarios.

Since December 2010, the MyOcean global analysis and forecasting system has consisted of the Mercator Océan NEMO global 1/4° configuration with a 1/12° nested model over the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The open boundary data for the nested configuration come from the global 1/4° configuration at 20° S and 80° N. The data are assimilated by means of a reduced-order Kalman filter with a 3-D multivariate modal decomposition of the forecast error. It includes an adaptive-error estimate and a localization algorithm. A 3-D-Var scheme provides a correction for the slowly evolving large-scale biases in temperature and salinity. Altimeter data, satellite sea surface temperature and in situ temperature and salinity vertical profiles are jointly assimilated to estimate the initial conditions for numerical ocean forecasting. In addition to the quality control performed by data producers, the system carries out a proper quality control on temperature and salinity vertical profiles in order to minimise the risk of erroneous observed profiles being assimilated in the model. This paper describes the recent systems used by Mercator Océan and the validation procedure applied to current MyOcean systems as well as systems under development. The paper shows how refinements or adjustments to the system during the validation procedure affect its quality. Additionally, we show that quality checks (in situ, drifters) and data sources (satellite sea surface temperature) have as great an impact as the system design (model physics and assimilation parameters). The results of the scientific assessment are illustrated with diagnostics over the year 2010 mainly, assorted with time series over the 2007–2011 period. The validation procedure demonstrates the accuracy of MyOcean global products, whose quality is stable over time. All monitoring systems are close to altimetric observations with a forecast RMS difference of 7 cm. The update of the mean dynamic topography corrects local biases in the Indonesian Throughflow and in the western tropical Pacific. This improves also the subsurface currents at the Equator. The global systems give an accurate description of water masses almost everywhere. Between 0 and 500 m, departures from in situ observations rarely exceed 1 °C and 0.2 psu. The assimilation of an improved sea surface temperature product aims to better represent the sea ice concentration and the sea ice edge. The systems under development are still suffering from a drift which can only be detected by means of a 5-yr hindcast, preventing us from upgrading them in real time. This emphasizes the need to pursue research while building future systems for MyOcean2 forecasting.

The recent decades have experienced changes in the characteristics of the El Nino phenomenon, with in particular an increased occurrence of so-called Modoki or Central Pacific El Ninos. Here the 2002/2003 El Nino, characterized as a Central Pacific El Nino, is studied from an Ocean General Circulation Model simulation. The focus is on the sequence of equatorial waves and their impact on zonal and vertical advection. The wave amplitude according to the most energetic baroclinic modes are first estimated, which allows inferring the sequence of the intraseasonal equatorial Kelvin (IKW) and Rossby (IRW) waves. It is shown that energetic downwelling IKWs, forced in the western-central Pacific, crossed the equatorial Pacific. Reflections of IKWs into IRWs onto the zonally varying thermocline and eastern boundary are also observed. A simplified heat budget of the surface layer is then carried out to infer the dominant processes at work during the evolution of this event focusing on the wave-induced advection terms. The results indicate that the warming phase (April-November 2002) is mainly controlled by zonal advection of mean temperature (accounted for by IKWs and locally wind-driven current) and by vertical advection in the eastern Pacific. The cooling phase (December 2002 to April 2003) is dominated by a reduction in solar radiation and the IRW-induced zonal advection of mean temperature respectively in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. The recharge-discharge process is also showed to be at work with the recharge (discharge) process operating mainly through the second (first) baroclinic mode.

The Mercator-Ocean eddy permitting (1/4) global ocean forecasting system assimilating satellite altimetry is the French contribution to the GODAE project and to the MERSEA project for operational systems. It has run operationally since October 2005 and is forced with daily surface fluxes from ECMWF operational analyses and forecasts. JASON, ERS and GFO altimetry measurements from AVISO were assimilated from January 2005 up to real time. The simulation results are compared with independent in-situ data of the Atlantic, Pacific and Antarctic Ocean basins in order to provide an estimation of the performance of the system. The results are also compared with the Levitus climatology, and with combinations of in-situ and satellite observations since 2005. In the Atlantic basin, the global system is also compared with Mercator-Ocean regional systems that assimilate SST (Sea Surface Temperature), SLA (Sea Level Anomalies) and in situ (temperature and salinity profiles) near real time observations

Since December 2010, the global analysis and forecast of the MyOcean system consists in the Mercator Océan NEMO global 1/4° configuration with a 1/12° "zoom" over the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. The zoom open boundaries come from the global 1/4° at 20° S and 80° N. The data assimilation uses a reduced order Kalman filter with a 3-D multivariate modal decomposition of the forecast error. It includes an adaptative error and a localization algorithm. A 3D-Var scheme corrects for the slowly evolving large-scale biases in temperature and salinity. Altimeter data, satellite temperature and in situ temperature and salinity vertical profiles are jointly assimilated to estimate the initial conditions for the numerical ocean forecasting. This paper gives a description of the recent systems. The validation procedure is introduced and applied to the current and future systems. This paper shows how the validation impacts on the quality of the systems. It is shown how quality check (in situ, drifters) and data source (satellite temperature) impacts as much as the systems design (model physics and assimilation parameters). The validation demonstrates the accuracy of the MyOcean global products. Their quality is stable in time. The future systems under development still suffer from a drift. This could only be detected with a 5 yr hindcast of the systems. This emphasizes the need for continuous research efforts in the process of building future versions of MyOcean2 forecasting capacities.

International audience; In cheese production, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and propionic bacteria are key players in the production of metabolites that confer nutritional and organoleptic qualities. However, the contribution of each species to the final quality of cheeses is not fully elucidated. The objective was to determine which species contribute to acidify and produce flavour compounds, by which metabolic pathways, according to which temporality and also to investigate the bacterial metabolic interactions contributing to the functioning of the cheese ecosystem.We sequenced and annotated: Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis CIRM-BIA1206 (LL), Lactiplantibacillus plantarum CIRM-BIA465 (LP), Propionibacterium freudenreichii CIRM-BIA122 (PF). We reconstructed the metabolic pathways and developed a community metabolic model. Four semi-hard cheeses were made with LL, LP and PF and were analyzed throughout manufacturing. Bacteria, sugars, organic acids and flavour compounds were quantified and RNA sequenced.The analysis of differentially expressed genes showed at which moment of the manufacturing process the genes involved in the catabolism of lactose and citrate and in the synthesis pathways of different flavour compounds: lactic, acetic, propionic, isovaleric (old cheese flavour), acetoin (cheesy flavour) acids were induced. Lactose catabolism was induced in LP and PF (Leloir pathway) during acidification and then in LL (tagatose pathway) during ripening. Acetoin production was induced in LL, LP and PF from the beginning of the manufacturing process to the beginning of ripening. The synthesis of propionic and isovaleric acids were attributed to PF and the corresponding metabolisms were induced from the beginning of the manufacturing then stably expressed during the first month of the ripening. Since the mixed fermentation pathways were induced during ripening, acetic acid was likely produced by LL, LP and PF at this stage. Implementation of the metabolic community model in the Smetana tool revealed the molecular basis of the previously discussed commensalism between LAB and PF. LAB produce lactic acid and potentially ribose, succinate, glycerol, serine and phenylalanine for the benefit of PF. These interactions, identified in silico, remain to be validated in vitro.All these results make metatranscriptomics associated with metabolic models, tools of choice to better understand and control the metabolisms and interactions governing the functioning of cheese ecosystems.