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The POLCOMS shelf-seas model, developed by Proudman
Oceanographic Laboratory (POL), has been run operationally
by the Met Office, daily, since June 2000. In December 2002 the
'Atlantic Margin' configuration
with an enlarged domain was introduced. A nested model
for the Irish Sea has also been run since March 2003. The
main features of the model are (also see Proctor
and James, 1996).
- Domain covers the north-west European continental shelf
and much of the shelf break to the west of the British
Isles, with resolution of 1/9° latitude and 1/6°
longitude (~12 km).
- Fully baroclinic with prognostic temperature and salinity,
representing dynamical processes both on the shelf and
in deeper water.
- State-of-the-art piecewise parabolic advection scheme
to preserve strong gradients and minimise diffusion, even
with advection over many tidal cycles.
- Driven by hourly winds and pressures, and three-hourly
heat fluxes from the Met Office mesoscale model.
- Uses sigma (terrain-following) vertical co-ordinates
with 14 model levels.
- Includes tidal forcing (15 harmonic constituents) at
Atlantic boundaries.
- Takes freshwater inputs from 47 sources (rivers and
the Baltic).
- Takes surface forcing from the Met Office global NWP
model.
- Takes ocean boundary conditions from the Met Office
Forecasting Ocean
Assimilation Model (FOAM).
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The shelf-seas modelling system is relocatable, allowing configurations
to be set up for any shelf-seas region, and a version for the
Persian Gulf is also run routinely.
View
shelf-seas model validation
A nowcast capability for the marine ecosystem of the north-west
European shelf has recently been developed using the POLCOMS-ERSEM
(Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System
- European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model) coupled physical-ecosystem
model.
More on
the Medium-Resolution Continental Shelf Model (MRCS)
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