The goal of this web site is to enable users to easily access ocean science data, run data assimilation models, and visualize both data and models. The concept of OurOcean is to allow users with minimal resource requirements to access data and interact with models. Currently, we provide both real-time and retrospective analysis of remote sensing data and ocean model simulations in the Pacific Ocean. We are particularly interested in the U.S. West Coastal Ocean with focused areas around Southern California, Central and Northern California, and Prince William Sound in Alaska. The data and model simulations can be viewed as still images in the Image Gallery and accessed through either a database with selected graphic capabilities or the Live Access Server (LAS), a highly configurable web interface designed to provide flexible access to geo-referenced scientific data. We update this web site daily. The following images are just a few examples of what being generated in the last 24 hours.
The Southern California Bight (SCB) ocean forecasting system is based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). The ROMS configuration used consists of a single domain covering the southern California coastal ocean from Santa Barbara to San Diego at a resolution of 1 km.
The Monterey Bay (MB) ocean forecasting system is based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). The ROMS configuration consists of three-level nested domains covering the U.S. West coast, central California coast, and Monterey Bay at 15-km, 5-km and 1.6-km, respectively.
The Prince William Sound (PWS) ocean forecasting system is based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). The ROMS configuration consists of three-level nested domains covering the northeast Pacific Ocean, the northern Gulf of Alaska and the Prince William Sound at 12-km, 4-km and 1.3-km, respectively.
This website displays realtime measured and model-simulated surface winds around the Monterey Bay. The model wind product is produced by the COAMPS (The Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System) of Naval Research Laboratory. The measured winds over-water are from the moorings maintained by MBARI and NDBC. The coastal winds are obtained from weather stations maintained by a variety of institutions. This website was developed as part of the Center for Integrated Marine Technology (CIMT) Program funded by NOAA.
In spite of recent improvements in hurricane track forecast accuracy, currently there are still many unanswered questions about the physical processes that determine hurricane genesis, intensity, track and impact on large-scale environment. Furthermore, a significant amount of work remains to be done in validating hurricane forecast models, understanding their sensitivities and improving their parameterizations. None of this can be accomplished without a comprehensive set of multiparameter observations that are relevant to both the large-scale and the storm-scale processes in the atmosphere and in the ocean.
Funded under NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder Program, the Aquarius instrument will collect more sea surface salinity (SSS) data than have been amassed over the previous 100 years. SSS is key to understanding the water cycle because 86% of global evaporation and 78% of global precipitation occur over the oceans. Also, SSS is a critical missing parameter needed by the international climate modeling community to predict environmental change.
This portion of the CIMT project is to establish an understanding of the location and dynamics of apex predator foraging habitat; ultimately, it will provide a basis from which to predict the effects of the climate variability on the dynamics of apex predator distribution and abundance patterns - a key goal of resource managers.
We provide four ocean surface vector wind products in the eastern Pacific Ocean: - Level 3 QuikSCAT data at 25-km resolutions. (Remote Sensing Systems) - Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) at 7-km - A blended QuikSCAT/COAMPS wind product based on the algorithm described by Chao et al. (2003) - Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) at 9-km