Data Assimilation and Sensitivity of the Black Sea Model to Parameters

TL;DR

This paper uses an adjoint-based technique to analyze how various parameters affect a shallow water model, emphasizing the importance of boundary conditions, with applications to both academic and realistic Black Sea simulations.

Contribution

It introduces an adjoint-based method to quantify parameter influence in a shallow water model, highlighting the critical role of boundary conditions in model accuracy.

Findings

Boundary conditions near rigid boundaries have the greatest influence on the solution.

The method is applied to both academic and realistic Black Sea models.

Optimal boundary approximation is essential for accurate model development.

Abstract

An adjoint based technique is applied to a Shallow Water Model in order to estimate influence of the model's parameters on the solution. Among parameters the bottom topography, initial conditions, boundary conditions on rigid boundaries, viscosity coefficients and the amplitude of the wind stress tension are considered. Their influence is analyzed from different points of view. Two configurations have been analyzed: an academic case of the model in a square box and a more realistic case simulating Black Sea currents. It is shown in both experiments that the boundary conditions near a rigid boundary influence the most the solution. This fact points out the necessity to identify optimal boundary approximation during a model development.