National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Regional Ocean Forecast System (ROFS) model output from 1999-03 (NODC Accession 0001543)

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]

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模拟分部、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（Naval Oceanographic Office，NAVOCEANO）联合开发。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，可模拟美国东海岸周边约北纬30°至47°、西经50°海域的水温、盐度、海面高度及海流。该模型的海面边界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、水汽与动量通量进行强迫；其开放式边界（即南部与东部边界）则通过气候学估算的水温、盐度及输运量实施强迫。模型空间分辨率近岸区域约为10km，远海区域约为20km，海岸边界对应10米等深线位置。垂直方向采用18层σ（地形追随）坐标系，其中至少一半分层集中于海面上方100米深度范围内。模型纳入了潮汐强迫。

该预报循环可生成时效长达48小时的区域海洋预报。海面强迫数据取自NCEP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。[本摘要源自ROFS官方网站：http://polar.wwb.noaa.gov/cofs/Description.html]