Gulf of Mexico Ocean Reanalysis from Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) 4D-Var for 2011

The National Academies’ Gulf Research Award Program (NAS-GRP) has the overall goal of achieving a greater understanding of the physical processes that control the deep circulation in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) through the synthesis of historical measurements with advanced data assimilative numerical models and analysis of synthesized model and observational data. Two versions of a Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) 4D-Var reanalysis were developed by Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE). The first one (reanalysis v1) includes the assimilation of datasets provided in near-real-time (satellite along-track SSH and SST, and Argo float temperature and salinity profiles) to emulate an operational forecast system. This reanalysis covers the full year of 2011. A second version of the reanalysis (reanalysis v2), including the assimilation of deep moored velocity and temperature observations, was run for the first three months of 2011.