Analysis Overview — all analysis types in one page
Experiments
- Adaptive_1 — validation
- Adaptive_2 — validation
- Adaptive_3 — validation
- Baseline — validation
- CMEMS — validation
- ObsKd — validation
- SSRD_STRD — validation
- SSR_SRT — validation
- SSR_STR — validation
- mle_comparison — mle_comparison
North Sea (NS)
Domain Description
The NS domain is a high-resolution configuration of the North Sea and adjacent shelf seas, spanning from the English Channel in the south to the Norwegian Trench in the north, and from the eastern Atlantic shelf break to the Danish and German Bight.
Geographic Coverage
- Latitude: 48.5°N to 60.8°N
- Longitude: 5.1°W to 13.4°E
- Resolution: ~1/20° spherical grid (~5 km)
- Vertical: 40 generalised vertical coordinate (GVC) levels
Key Features
- Strong tidal dynamics with M2 amplitudes up to 3 m in the Southern Bight
- Seasonal stratification in the central and northern North Sea
- Significant freshwater influence from Rhine, Elbe, Thames, and Scottish rivers
- Norwegian Trench provides the deepest bathymetry (~700 m)
- Open boundaries driven by AMM7 CMEMS reanalysis (historical) or CMIP6 delta-change (future projections)
Observation Datasets
| Dataset | Variables | Period | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICES hydrographic database | Temperature, Salinity | 1993– | Cruise CTD / bottle |
| ARGO floats (Ifremer/GDAC) | Temperature, Salinity | 2000– | Autonomous profilers |
| OSTIA / CMEMS SST | Sea surface temperature | 2003– | Level 4 satellite analysis |
| GESLA tide gauges | Sea level | — | High-frequency coastal gauge records |
| FES2014 / TPXO9 | Tidal constituents | — | Barotropic tidal model |
North Sea Modeling Area
Domain Description
The North Sea domain covers the northwest European shelf seas, including the North Sea, English Channel, and adjacent waters.
Geographic Coverage
- Latitude: 50°N to 62°N
- Longitude: 5°W to 13°E
- Resolution: 7km horizontal, 35 sigma levels
- Depth range: 0 to 700m
Key Features
- Strong tidal dynamics with M2 amplitudes up to 3m
- Seasonal stratification in central and northern regions
- Significant freshwater influence from Rhine, Elbe, Thames
- Important for fisheries, shipping, and offshore wind energy
Bathymetry
Bathymetry showing the shallow southern North Sea (<50m) and deeper Norwegian Trench (>300m)
Scientific Focus
- Tidal dynamics and energy dissipation
- Seasonal stratification and mixing
- Freshwater plumes and coastal processes
- Storm surge prediction
How Input Files Were Generated
Future ocean boundary conditions use CMIP6 model output as the climate-change signal on top of the historical CMEMS AMM7 reference.
Bathymetry
Bathymetry
Regridded conservatively from GEBCO 2025 onto the NS ~1/20° spherical grid using bathymetry-regrid (ocean-prep), with Beckmann-Haidvogel smoothing (rx0 ≤ 0.2). Output: bathymetry_ns.nc with variables lon, lat, mask, H.
bathymetry-regrid --config config/northsea_1d20deg_bathy_create.yaml
Boundary Conditions
CMEMS historical boundaries (T, S, SSH, currents)
AMM7 NWS MY reanalysis providing hourly barotropic and daily baroclinic boundary conditions for the historical period. Processed with ocean-prep run_cmems_boundaries.
Config not yet committed.
python cli/run_cmems_boundaries.py --config config/ns_bdy_create.yaml
Tidal boundaries (TPXO9 + CMIP6 mean SSH / barotropic transport)
TPXO9-atlas (13 constituents) tidal prediction for zos, uo, vo combined with CMIP6 monthly mean sea-surface height and depth-integrated barotropic transport. Scenario-specific; see Scenario Summary table below.
Config not yet committed.
run-tidal-boundaries --config config/ns_tidal_bdy.yaml
3-D delta-change boundaries (T, S and optionally currents)
Future 3-D boundary conditions via the delta-change method: AMM7 historical CMEMS reference cycled over the output period, with a CMIP6 monthly change signal (future 20-yr climatology minus historical 1985–2014 climatology) added at each boundary point. Scenario-specific; see Scenario Summary table below.
NS delta-change boundary config
Config not yet committed.
run-delta-boundaries --config config/ns_delta_bdy.yaml --scenario ssp370
Initial Conditions
Initial conditions (temperature, salinity)
Monthly snapshots (1st of each month) from CMEMS NWS AMM7 MY reanalysis. Flood-fill propagates valid values into any remaining NaN cells on the model grid.
Config not yet committed.
python cli/download_init_conditions.py --config config/ns_init_create.yaml --source AMM7 --year 2015