ECMWF will upgrade quality for the ocean wave forecasts
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ECMWF is preparing to upgrade, which will boost the quality the ocean wave forecasts. The wave forecast will benefit from a new physics package and some other improvements. The change will be available in upgrade Cycle 46r1 later this year. The new forecast will be immediately available on Windy.
The wave physics package models how the wind whips up waves, how different waves interact with each other, and how wave energy gradually dissipates.
A new physics package based on work by Fabrice Ardhuin and collaborators has been adapted for use in the IFS and will be introduced at ECMWF later this year.
“It improves forecasts, notably by reducing the energy of waves that have travelled a long way from where they were generated, and by slightly increasing wave height in the extratropical storm tracks,” says ECMWF wave forecast specialist Jean Bidlot.You can read a full article on the ECMWF website.
