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The CSS projects

Northeast Atlantic

P31 - MOUTON

Project name, acronym
MOUTON (Modélisation Océanique d'un Théâtre d'Opérations Navales) is about modelling of regional to local areas for the French Navy needs.

Domains
North Eastern Atlantic : English Channel, Bay of Biscay, West Spain and Portugal, Gulf of Cadiz at 1' (1/60°) resolution, plus zooms on several chosen areas.

Models of the North Western Indian Ocean are also developed.

Objectives
The main objective is to extend the operational capability of the French Navy nowcast/forecast systems to regional or local areas including coastal zones.

The sub-objectives of the MOUTON project are :

  • Evaluate the possibilities of modelling the deep and shallow water areas of the ocean using a multi-model approach, in particular based on OPA, the model that has been chosen by the MERCATOR project, and a model using hybrid vertical coordinates, HYCOM

  • Improve the parameterization of mixing processes, in particular the processes influenced by the topography along continental shelves

  • Evaluate the ability of oceanic circulation models to accurately represent the tides and internal tides

  • Evaluate the possibilities of developing operationnal systems based on coastal models, in particular by integrating data assimilation sub-systems in the latter

  • Evaluate or develop new sensors, or methods to exploit data from existing sensors, for assimilation in coastal areas

  • Improve data assimilation techniques to optimize the use of data and define strategies for observations

  • Obtain some pertinent diagnostics to validate models, in particular on the basis of in situ observations.

The latter actions aim at building a demonstrator on the EC/Biscay/Portugal/Cadiz area. Its operational capabilities will be evaluated by :

  • Comparison between in situ observations and the results from realistic models

  • Evaluation of the impact of data assimilation on these results

  • Evaluation of the limits of the demonstrator

The results will be used to specify the future nowcast/forecast systems of the French Navy for both open and coastal areas.

Downscaling strategy
The regional and local models developed in MOUTON are forced by MERCATOR (GODAE/MERSEA system) for the low frequency oceanic fields, and MOG2D for the tides. Several atmospheric forcing solutions are also tested (ARPEGE, ALADIN, AROME).


Project status
The MOUTON project was launched in September 2001 and will end in December 2009. The MOUTON project is a research program funded by DGA (Office of Research and Development of the French Ministry of Defence) and the French Navy.

 

 

 

(Last Updated: 17-01-2008)