Case Study Analysis of RTMA in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Atmospheric forcing of high-resolution ocean models is an important component of The CONsortium for oil spill exposure pathways in COastal River-Dominated Ecosystems (CONCORDE). 1-km forcing will be done in a domain that borders coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama subject to mesoscale influences. Since the ocean models will be run in hindcast mode, atmospheric reanalyses fields will be used.

Deliverables include determining the optimal use of reanalyses fields, and the best model background to use. One candidate is the Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA). We will examine RTMA's ability to replicate mesoscale wind and thermodynamic fields for two week periods during August 2015, October 2015, and November 2015. The evaluation will include comparisons of RTMA versus subjectively drawn observation-based mesoscale maps, as well as standard metrics versus observations.