Abstract: An atmospheric and marine computational forecasting system for Guanabara Bay (GB) was developed to support the Brazilian Sailing Teams in the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This system, operational since August 2014, is composed of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) and the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) models, which are both executed daily, yielding 72-h prognostics. The WRF model uses the Global Forecast System (GFS) as the initial and boundary conditions, configured with a three nested-grid scheme. The ocean model is also configured using three nested grids, obtaining atmospheric fields from the implemented WRF and ocean forecasts from CMEMS and TPXO7.2 as tidal forcing. To evaluate the model performances, the atmospheric results were compared with data from two local airports, and the ocean model results were compared with data collected from an acoustic current profiler and tidal prediction series obtained from harmonic constants at four stations located in GB. According to the results, reasonable model performances were obtained in representing marine currents, sea surface heights and surface winds. The system could represent the most important local atmospheric and oceanic conditions, being suitable for nautical applications.

Abstract: Rı́as Baixas is a small region in the north of the Iberian At- lantic Margin, located between Cape Fisterra and the Portugal-Spain boarder. Due to its natural resources, this area is quite relevant for the socio-economic development of the entire northwestern Iberian Penin- sula. However, it is also highly vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic stress. A significant amount of the current economic activities in this re- gion, such as aquaculture, fishery, offshore operations, navigation, coastal management and tourism rely on the state of the ocean and atmosphere and largely benefit from high-resolution numerical models predicting that state several days in advance. In this study, we present the opera- tional ocean forecasting system developed at the meteorological agency of the regional Galician government, MeteoGalicia, focussing on the Rı́as Baixas region. This system includes four models providing daily output data: the hydrodynamic models ROMS and MOHID, the atmospheric model WRF and the hydrological model SWAT. Here, MOHID’s imple- mentation for the Rı́as Baixas region is described and the model’s per- formance with respect to observations is shown for those locations where Current Temperature and Depth (CTD) profiles are obtained weekly by the Technological Institute for the Monitoring of the Marine Envi- ronment in Galicia (INTECMAR). Although the hydrodynamical con- ditions of this region are complex, the model skilfully reproduces these CTDs. The results and derived products from the operational system are publicly available to the end-user through MeteoGalicia’s web page and data server (www.meteogalicia.gal).

Abstract: Coastal upwellings systems are very important from the socio-economic point of view due to their high productivity, but they are also vulnerable under changing climate. The impact of climate change on the Canary Current Upwelling System (CCUS) has been studied in recent years by different authors. However, these studies show contradictory results on the question whether coastal upwelling will be more intense or weak in the next decades. One of the reasons for this uncertainty is the low resolution of climate models, making it difficult to properly resolve coastal zone processes. To solve this issue, we propose the use of a high-resolution regional climate coupled model. In this work we evaluate the performance of the regional climate coupled model ROM (REMO-OASSIS-MPIOM) in the influence zone of the CCUS as a first step towards a regional climate change scenario downscaling. The results were compared to the output of the global MPI-ESM, showing a significant improvement.

Abstract: Drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (dFADs) are small drifting platforms with an attached solar powered buoy that report their position with daily frequency via GPS. We use data of 9,440 drifting objects provided by Satlink, a buoys manufacturing company, to test the predictions of surface current velocity provided by two of the main models:the NEMO model used by Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) and the HYCOM model used by the Global Ocean Forecast System (GOFS).