Numerical modeling with application to tracking marine debris

Abstract

This paper describes different numerical models of ocean circulation the output of which can be applied to study patterns and pathways of drifting marine debris. The paper focuses on model output that is readily available rather than on numerical models that could be configured and run locally. These include operational models from the US Navy (the Navy Layered Ocean Model (NLOM), Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM), and Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM)), data assimilating reanalysis models (the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA), the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) models), and the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ocean reanalysis (Ocean Reanalysis System, ECMWF/ORA-S3). The paper describes the underlying physics in each model system, limitations, and where to obtain the model output.