Applying Automated Underway Ship Observations to Numerical Model Evaluation

Numerical models are used widely in the oceanic and atmospheric sciences to estimate and forecast conditions in the marine environment. Herein the application of in situ observations collected by automated instrumentation on ships at sampling rates ≤5 min is demonstrated as a means to evaluate numerical model analyses. Specific case studies use near-surface ocean observations collected by a merchant vessel, an ocean racing yacht, and select research vessels to evaluate various ocean analyses from the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). Although some specific differences are identified between the observations and numerical model analyses, the purpose of these comparisons is to demonstrate the value of high-sampling-rate in situ observations collected on ships for numerical model evaluation.