Table 1 A summary of various skill metrics computed using currents from the model and
BOEM/SAIC ADCP measurements in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (see fig.3a for locations).
Model
Nowcast
Forecast
R
0.63
0.54

28o
34o
Skill
u
0.41
0.55
v
0.88
0.75
Mean
Ratio Rspd
m-o
0.71
20o
0.73
-33o
Std. Dev
Rstd
0.84
0.68
Fig.1 (a) Daily-averaged SSH (colors in m) and surface currents (squiggly black lines) shown
every 10days for the forecast simulation starting from July 1st, 2011 (Exp.Jul01). White contour
indicates the 200m isobath.The megenta line indicates the SSH=0 from AVISO.
What is the blue scale for?? Pls. add the scale for the currents.
The blue scale is for the wind stress, and the current scale is in black.
Fig. 1 (b) Top: comparison between AVISO and forecast (Exp.Jul01) SSHA (top): spatial
correlation coefficient between the model and AVISO SSHA’s in the region north of 23oN and
west of 84oW, and over water region deeper than 500 m in the Gulf of Mexico, for 8 weeks from
Jul/01-Aug/26/2011. Bottom: the corresponding RMS error for the same region. Black dotted
lines are forecast and grey lines are persistence.
(a)
(b)
Fig.3. (a) BOEM/SAIC full-depth ADCP mooring (a1-a4, b1-b3 and c1-c2) locations
superimposed on the July-mean model forecast SSH (color with the zero-contour in black, in
meters). The purple contour is the zero-contour of AVISO SSH. (b) Complex correlation R’s
and ||’s averaged over depths at each of the 9 moorings – i.e. horizontal distribution.
The rise in  at a1 and c2 (ends) look suspicious – pls. check! Why should these 2 have
larger errors? Are they the “end points” of your data?
I update the plot. The old one used the interpolated mooring and model data. I noticed
there are larger errors in the deep layer than near surface, thus the interpolation increases
the bias from the deep layer. The new plot is calculated with model interpolated to the
mooring depth. The C2 has large errors for water depth deeper than -176m. At C2, the
large errors in current direction could be induced by the large cyclonic eddy in the model,
while the eddy is much smaller in the obs.
Fig.4 Vertical profiles (i.e. averaged over all 9 moorings at each horizontal level) of: (a) & (b)
complex correlation R’s and ’s; (c) ratio of model to observed standard deviations (Rstd); (d)
Skilluv (=[Skill(u)+Skill(v)]/2); (e) ratio of model to observed mean speeds (Rspd) and (f) angle of
modeled - observed mean velocity, in degrees, negative if model is clockwise w.r.t observation
(m-o). Black (red) symbols are nowcast (forecast).
Fig.5 The daily-average SSH (color and black contour is SSH=0) on June 10th from Exp.May15.
The magenta contour indicates the SSH=0 from AVISO satellite data. The triangle mark at (89.40, 260) is where the Rossby wave speed |Ci| is estimated.
Take out the while and dashed black lines.
I may want to put the black dash line back depending on fig.8
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig.6 (a): ten-day running GFS zonal wind stress in the Carribbean Sea (averaged over 80.3oW88.6oW and 14.0oN-22.3oN); (b): modeled (Exp.May15) Yucatan Channel transport (solid;
dotted horizontal line is the mean) and eastern Gulf SSH (dash; scale on right); (c): Rossby wave
speed -Ci (solid; dotted horizontal line is the mean) at the location marked in Fig.5, and
baroclinic instability conversion at z=-750m (dash; scale on right). The first vertical dash line
indicates the model’s starting time, and the second one marks the model eddy shedding time on
Jul, 08th. Shown together with the 10-day mean curves are also the daily curves in light grey.
Fig.7 Baroclinic instability (BCI×107 in m2 s-3) at 750m computed over the period of 05/16 06/15 (i.e. centered at Jun/01; left), and 06/01 -06/30 (centered at Jun/15; right). When divided
by the corresponding eddy energy (kinetic + potential), the maximum (red) and minimum (blue)
scales also indicate growth time scales of  3 days respectively. The SSH = 0.15 m contour
line is used to indicate the position of the Loop Current’s outer edge, averaged over the
respective periods. Isobaths are 200, 2000, 3000, and 3500m.
Fig.8
Why does the latitude decrease before vorticity – pls. check your calculation. Also, why is this
not using the same time-length as other plots in fig.6?