The Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System for West Florida

THE COASTAL OCEAN MONITORING AND PREDICTION SYSTEM FOR WEST FLORIDA

By MARK E. LUTHER, Robert H, Weisberg, and Clifford R. Merz

University of South Florida, Department of Marine Science, 140 Seventh Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, Tel: (727)553-1528; Fax: (727)553-1189, E-mail: luther@rnarine.usf.edu

Abstract:

Florida is the United States' fourth most populous state, with 80% of the population living in a coastal county. Several recent storms have brought large, unpredicted flooding to Florida's west coast. The coastal sea level response to tropical. and extra-tropical storms results from wind forcing over the entire continental shelf. Much of the local response may actually be due to storm winds quite distant from the local area of concern; a case in point being tropical storm Josephine, a modest storm that nevertheless caused extensive flooding in the Tampa Bay area. The University of South Florida is implementing a real-time Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System (CONUS) for West Florida that will provide additional data needed to give more accurate predictions of ocean storms and coastal flooding by storm surge. This system consists of an array of instrumentation both along the coast on fixed platforms and offshore on buoys, combined with numerical circulation models. Data are telemetered in real-time by a combination of satellite and line-of-sight radio. The system builds upon existing in-situ measurements and modeling programs funded by various state and federal agencies. This observing system fulfills all of the requirements of the Coastal Module of the Global Ocean Observing System (CMGOOS). Data and model products art disseminated in real-time to federal, state, and local emergency management officials via the Internet (URL http://comps.rnarine.usf.edu).