Sensitivity of Ocean Circulation Modeling Results to the Choice of Atmospheric Forcing Data Source and Grid Resolution.

A comparison of simulations of the global ocean circulation with the NEMO/SI3 model with two types of atmospheric forcing (DFS5.2 and CFSR/CDAS), as well as with two grid resolutions (1° and 0.25°) is presented. The objective of such comparison is to substantiate a choice of a source of data on atmospheric forcing and a grid resolution for use in an operational system for the ocean state diagnosing and forecasting. It is shown that all considered simulations reproduce main large-scale ocean characteristics. The CFSR/CDAS merged meteorological dataset, which provides better agreement with actual data, is quite suitable for specifying atmospheric forcing in retrospective and operational applications of the NEMO/SI3 model, including its use as a computational core in the data assimilation system within the framework of the analysis–forecast–analysis sequential assimilation scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]