Experiments are presented where the Canadian operational GEM atmospheric model is coupled to the ice-ocean Gulf of St. Lawrence model developed at l’Institut Maurice-Lamontagne (Saucier et al., 2002). A storm event from March 1997 is simulated where the two-way interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean surface is shown to be important in forecasting accurate air temperature and sensible heat fluxes near coastal lines.

Compared with its original non-coupled setup, the GEM model with a dynamic ice cover produces more accurate air temperature forecasts for 71% of 46 observation stations. The increased modeled air temperature had an important effect on the ice-ocean model.

Reference:

Saucier, F.J., F. Roy, D. Gilbert, P. Pellerin and H. Ritchie, 2002: The Formation and Circulation Processes of Water Masses and Sea Ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. J. Geophys. Res., in press.