Regional and Coastal Prediction with the Relocatable Ocean Nowcast/Forecast System

Abstract : The US Navy maintains a capability for regional and coastal ocean modeling as part of a comprehensive effort to predict the impact of the environment (air, water, land, and ice) on naval operations, training, and support activities. The current operational regional ocean modeling capability is based on the Naval Research Laboratory's RELOcatable ocean nowcast/forecast (RELO) system, and this system has formed the basis for further development in advanced data assimilation, ensemble prediction, and coupled modeling. This article presents an overview of the RELO system and its operational application.