THE CYPRUS COASTAL OCEAN FORECASTING SYSTEM
GEORGE ZODIATIS1, ROBIN LARDNER1, ENCHO DEMIROV2,
GEORGIOS GEORGIOU3 and NADIA PINARDI4
1
Oceanography Section, Depart. of Fisheries & Marine Research, Nicosia, Cyprus
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy
3
Oceanography group, MAS-University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
4
Department of Physics, University of Bologna, Italy
2
An operational high resolution coastal ocean forecasting system for the sea area
around Cyprus, NE Levantine Basin, has been developed in the frame of
MFS/EuroGOOS and MAMA/MedGOOS activities, to provide a weekly forecasts of
currents, water temperature, salinity, sea level and remote sensing SST. The above
system, the Cyprus coastal ocean forecasting system (CCOFOS) is operational since
March 2002.
At present the CCOFOS consists of the following parts:
a) data acquisition and pre-processing of the initial, boundaries (lateral and
surface), remote sensing and in-situ near coastal data
b) the circulation model used for hindcast & forecasts and
c) the post-processing and visualisation of the final products.
In the CCOFOS, the data for the initialisation and the boundary conditions, both
lateral and atmospheric forcing, are downloaded weekly from the MFSPP web site.
The MFSPP data includes the assimilation of SSH and SST data, computed weekly
from satellite images. In addition to the operational Cyprus coastal ocean forecasts,
daily SST of the Levantine Basin, received and processed by the CCOFOS remote
sensing receiving system.
The CCOFOS implements the CYCOM-Cyprus Basin ocean model, is a version of
the POM general circulation model, which is nested entirely into the coarser grid of
MFSPP-OGCM model. The latter is used in order to produce the MFSPP operational
ocean forecasts in the Mediterranean Sea.
A visual interface for ocean forecasting data is used to export the CCOFOS
forecasting products into the relevant web site. The Cyprus coastal ocean forecasts are
daily averaged and are available at the MFS-CCOFOS web site :
www.ucy.ac.cy/~mfspp
In the frame of the second phase of the MFS project, MFSTEP-Mediterranean
Forecasting System Towards Environmental Predictions, the CYCOM model will be
upgraded and its horizontal resolution will be increased from 3 km to 1.5 km,
providing by this way even more detailed information for the end users applications,
particularly nearest to the coast.
At present, the Cyprus coastal ocean forecasting system supports a wide local user
community, particular in activities related to the oil spill pollution, search and rescue
operations, navigation safety, marine aquaculture, pelagic fisheries, coastal
management, tourist industry, etc.
Correspondence Address:
Dr. George Zodiatis
Oceanography Section
Department of Fisheries and Marine Research
Aeolou 13, 1416 Nicosia, Cyprus
Tel: + 357- 22807814
Fax: +357-22775955
e-mail: gzodiac@ucy.ac.cy
Type of presentation: O
Technical equipment DVP