OPENCoastS: on-demand forecast tool for management

Abstract

Coastal forecast systems have become reliable tools to support daily coastal management and strategic long-term planning. However, the availability of these systems for most coastal areas remains scarce, in particular for small estuaries and coastal bays, which limits the efficiency of management for these areas from both economic and environmental perspectives. Building a new forecast system or maintaining in operation an existing one requires considerable effort, from both financial and personnel points of view. Accurate forecasts require a team comprising experts in coastal processes and computer science and the availability of robust and large computational resources to maintain the predictions available on a daily basis. Herein, a new concept in forecast tools is presented, building the foundations for forecast systems to be built and made available for all coastal systems worldwide. Denoted OPENCoastS, this freely available web service builds forecasts systems for the coastal area selected by the user and maintains them in operation using the European Open Science Cloud infrastructure. Forecasts are based on the SCHISM community model’s simulations using a computational grid uploaded by the user, to predict the 2D barotropic or 3D baroclinic circulation in the coastal area of interest. An open grid repository is also available for testing the platform and to promote shared work. The web platform includes the whole forecast workflow: system configuration, system management and forecasts viewer. Forecast accuracy can be controlled by the user at configuration stage by: i) the selection of the forcings from the several ources available (including Meteo France and NOAA’s atmospheric predictions and ocean boundary conditions from CMEMS and FES2014, among others); and ii) the choice of several model parameters. The quality of the predictions can be assessed by automatic comparison with user-selected EMODNET data stations. Default settings are also provided to facilitate the uptake of the OPENCoastS platform by people less familiar with the use of the SCHISM model. An example of the application of OPENCoastS to simulate 3D hydrodynamics is provided for the Ria Formosa coastal lagoon.