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Who make forecasts?

HouleLà forecasts are made by ACTIMAR, member of the LITTORALIS consortium.

Actimar engineers have been involved for over 10 years in development of the first operational systems for the analysis and forecasting of oceanographic conditions.

They develop and improve marine systems for a wide kind of projects:

Daily operational forecasts concerning the thermal structure of the ocean's surface layers

Forecasting internal tides in the Bay of Biscay and other maritime areas

Forecasting coastal sea states on the basis of offshore data

Modelling oil spill drift using a specific numerical tool that can be very rapidly activated in any maritime area

Modelling object drift (small ships, containers, etc.)

Setting up an operational satellite data processing system that records sea surface temperatures in the entire Atlantic Ocean four times daily.

Development of a coastal operational oceanography centre for professional stakeholders in different sectors (fisheries, aquaculture, navigation, search and rescue, pollution risk, coastal erosion, etc.) and other users of the sea (sailing, sport fishing, tourism, surfing, etc.)
Sea surface current measurements using VHF and HF radar to generate near real time current fields over a 25-100 km range

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Technical resources tailored to our oceanographic services

Ocean hydrodynamics simulation software

Actimar uses software MARS 2D/3D, ROMS, TELEMAC-2D and HYCOM for modelling and simulation of ocean currents. Sedimental processes are modelled using software SUBIEF-2D and SISYPHE from TELEMAC system.

Sea states simulation software

Actimar uses for sea states studies: TOMAWAC and ARTEMIS software from TELEMAC system, SWAN model and WAVEWATCH III.

Ocean thermal structure software

The PREVIMEL system aims at forecasting vertical thermal structure of ocean upper layer. The model is driven by atmospheric forcing.

Internal tide simulation program

The MELOMINT system is used to forecast evolution of ocean upper layer thermal structure driven by air sea interface and internal tide in seasonal thermocline generated by intercation between barotrope tide and continental slope.

Meteorological modelling software

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is a next-generation mesocale numerical weather prediction system designed to serve both operational forecasting and atmospheric research needs.

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Comment sont réalisées nos prévisions?

Prévisions météorologiques (Vents, vagues)

Chaque jour, l'ensemble des observations météorologiques terrestres, marines et satellitaires sont analysées par la National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) aux Etats Unis. Le résultat de cette analyse sont des prévisions mondiales avec une maille d'une cinquantaine de kilomètres.

Chaque jour, ACTIMAR reçoit ces prévisions mondiales et les utilise comme forçage de ses modèles pour obtenir des prévisions à des échelles allant de quelques centaines de mètres à quelques kilomètres.

Prévision hydro-dynamiques (courants, marées)

Le forçage des modèles de calcul de ces paramètres est fait à partir de la marée au large (constantes harmoniques FES2004) et des conditions atmosphériques à la surface de la mer (issues des prévisions météorologiques).

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Inspired by Nina