National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Regional Ocean Forecast System (ROFS) model output from 2004-12 (NODC Accession 0002158)

The Regional Ocean Forecast System (ROFS) has been developed jointly by the Ocean Modeling Branch of the National Weather Service's Environmental Modeling Center, the National Ocean Service's Coast Survey Development Lab, Princeton University, and Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO). ROFS is based on a hydrodynamic, three-dimensional ocean circulation model (Princeton Ocean Model) which simulates temperature, salinity, surface elevation, and currents for a region off the U.S. East Coast from ~30 to 47N and out to 50W. The model is driven at the ocean surface boundary by heat, moisture, and momentum fluxes provided by NCEP's Eta mesoscale atmospheric forecast model. The ocean model is driven along its open (that is, southern and eastern) boundaries by climatological estimates of temperature, salinity, and transport. The spatial resolution of the model varies from approximately 20km offshore to about 10km nearshore. The coastal boundary corresponds to the location of the 10m isobath. In the vertical, an 18-layer sigma (terrain-following) coordinate system is used with at least half the layers concentrated in the upper 100m. Tidal forcing is included in the model.

The forecast cycle generates regional ocean forecasts out to 48 hours. Surface forcing is obtained from the 3-hourly surface fields from NCEP's Eta mesoscale atmospheric prediction model. [This abstract was obtained from the ROFS website at http://polar.wwb.noaa.gov/cofs/Description.html#OM on June 23, 2004.]

区域海洋预报系统（Regional Ocean Forecast System，ROFS）由美国国家气象局环境模拟中心海洋建模分部、美国国家海洋服务局海岸勘测开发实验室、普林斯顿大学以及海军海洋学办公室（NAVOCEANO）联合研发。ROFS基于三维水动力海洋环流模型——普林斯顿海洋模型（Princeton Ocean Model）构建，可模拟美国东海岸约北纬30°至47°、西经50°以远海域的水温、盐度、海面高度及海流状况。该模型的海面边界条件由美国国家环境预报中心（National Centers for Environmental Prediction，NCEP）埃塔中尺度大气预报模型提供的热量、水汽与动量通量驱动。海洋模型的开放边界（即南部与东部边界）则采用温度、盐度及输运量的气候态估算值进行驱动。模型的空间分辨率从远海约20公里向近岸逐渐细化至约10公里，海岸边界对应10米等深线的位置。垂直方向上，模型采用18层σ（地形跟随）坐标系，且至少一半的分层集中在海表以上100米深度范围内，该模型同时纳入了潮汐强迫过程。

该预报周期可生成时效长达48小时的区域海洋预报产品。海面强迫数据取自美国国家环境预报中心埃塔中尺度大气预报模型每3小时更新一次的海面场数据。[本摘要于2004年6月23日取自ROFS官方网站http://polar.wwb.noaa.gov/cofs/Description.html#OM]