Description of the SST data assimilation system used in the NOAA Coastal Ocean Forecast System (COFS) for the U.S. East Coast, version 3.2

"The purpose of NOAA Coastal Ocean Forecast System (COFS) is to provide nowcasts and short-term forecasts of water temperature, salinity, water level, and currents for the East Coast of the United States... COFS is a collaborative project between the National Weather Service (NWS), the National Ocean Service (NOS), and Princeton University... A data assimilation cycle for COFS was developed and implemented semi-operationally on April 1, 1998. This version of COFS is referred to as COFS 3.2. The purpose of the cycle is to provide a three-dimensional nowcast of the coastal ocean physical structure."--p.1.