High Frequency Radar Observing System Simulation Experiment in the Western Mediterranean Sea: a Lagrangian assessment approach

TL;DR

This study evaluates how expanding high-frequency radar coverage in the Western Mediterranean improves surface current forecasts and Lagrangian transport analysis through an Observing System Simulation Experiment, demonstrating significant circulation pattern corrections.

Contribution

It introduces a Lagrangian assessment approach to evaluate the impact of new radar antennas on ocean current modeling in a dynamic coastal area.

Findings

Surface meridional velocity errors reduced by up to 19%.

Enhanced radar coverage improves circulation pattern accuracy.

Data assimilation better captures Lagrangian Coherent Structures.

Abstract

The impact of the expansion of a high-frequency radar (HFR) system in a dynamic coastal area (the Ibiza Channel in the Western Mediterranean Sea) is evaluated through an Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE). The installation of two new antennas in the Iberian Peninsula would complement the existing ones in the islands of Ibiza and Formentera, providing surface currents observations of the full channel. Two different configurations of the same model, validated to give realistic simulations, are used: i) a Nature Run (NR) which is considered as the real ocean state and that is used to generate pseudo-observations, and ii) a Control Run (CR) in which the pseudo-observations are assimilated. The OSSE is first validated by comparison against a previous Observing System Experiment (OSE). The impact of the new antennas for forecasting surface currents is evaluated in two different periods with different levels of agreement between NR and CR. The HFR expansion is found to contribute to significantly correct the circulation patterns in the Channel, leading to surface merdional velocity error reductions up to 19%. The effects on the transport in the area are also analyzed from a Lagrangian perspective, showing that DA can help to better represent the Lagrangian Coherent Structures present in the NR and constrain the ocean dynamics.