FIELD_AC

"Fluxes, Interactions and Environment at the Land-Ocean Boundary. Downscaling, Assimilation and Coupling"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Coastal-zone oceanographic predictions seldom appraise the land discharge as a boundary condition. River fluxes are sometimes considered, but neglecting their 3D character, while the “distributed” continental run-off is not taken into consideration. Moreover, many coastal scale processes, particularly those relevant in geographically restricted domains (coasts with harbours or river mouth areas), are not well parameterized in present simulations. Because of this situation, local predictions still present significant errors and are not robust enough, even being locally wrong for sharp gradient events, such as flash flood discharges into the Mediterranean sea. This hampers decision-making in coastal zones. The FIELD_AC project aims at providing an improved operational service for coastal areas and to generate added value for shelf and regional scale predictions from GMES Marine Core Services. Local assimilation will be analysed together with advanced error metrics to provide a reliable service that can be transferred to public and private parties, using the spin-off company that will result from the project. This will be achieved by the introduction of more comprehensive “land” boundary conditions, improved local parameterizations and new coupling terms/strategies for the studied field cases. They cover a representative range of meteo-oceanographic drivers for four “geometrically” restricted domains (Catalan coast, Venice Gulf, Liverpool Bay and the Wadden Sea). FIELD_AC will bridge the gap from shelf predictions to local (river mouth or harbour/beach scales) simulations required at the coastal zone. This will result in a wider demand for operational services and an enhanced use of in-situ and remote observations. Such improvements (services and expertise) will require the advancement of the present state of the art.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

New research has advanced our ability to predict the quality of water fluxes (waves, currents and dispersion patterns) near the coast: urban littoral, tourist beaches and biologically productive zones (aquaculture or fishery areas).

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The EU-funded FIELD_AC project was set up to improve operational oceanographic services for coastal areas. The project also sought to generate added value for shelf and regional-scale predictions from Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Marine Core Services.

Mutual interactions between meteorological and oceanographic processes at coastal scales formed the core of the research. Local study sites were analysed to provide a reliable service that can be transferred to public and private stakeholders. The study sites covered a range of meteo-oceanographic drivers for four geometrically restricted domains: the German Bight, the Catalan coast, the Venice Gulf and Liverpool Bay.

Researchers implemented a sequence of coupled and nested meteo-oceanographic models that simulate aspects like wind, atmospheric pressure waves and currents. The results generated more effective, high-resolution simulations to provide highly accurate data to stakeholders. These advances have also supported the establishment of a private company that applies the results in commercial settings in South America, Australia and Europe.

FIELD_AC demonstrated that it is possible to achieve reliable, highly detailed predictions of wind, wave, current and transport patterns (sediment and water quality) at the coastal zone (see enclosed figure). This translates into advanced information about the state of the sea, and more efficient actions for reducing risk levels under different circumstances. Better, cheaper predictions have also served to enrich coastal stakeholders with knowledge for decisions that will affect the present and future of coastal societies.