ECCOFS: East Coast Ocean Forecasts at 3-km Resolution

The East Coast Community Ocean Forecast System (ECCOFS) covers the eastern seaboard of North America and Intra-Americas Seas from Newfoundland to Venezuela. It is a daily ocean analysis and forecast system developed by Rutgers University, UC Santa Cruz, Fathom Science Inc., and NOAA's National Ocean Service, using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) with 4D-Var data assimilation. The system generates forecasts with a 3 km horizontal resolution and 50 vertical levels.

Use Cases

• Predicting coastal ocean conditions based on the 3 km resolution forecast model.
• Assimilating satellite and in-situ observations for ocean state analysis.
• Modeling freshwater inflows for coastal regions based on river discharge data from 93 major rivers.
• Studying tidal dynamics using harmonic barotropic tidal forcing from 12 constituents.

Strengths

• Forecasts are generated daily using a 4D-Var data assimilation system.
• Model has a high horizontal resolution of 3 km and 50 vertical levels.
• Assimilates a wide range of observations including satellite data, moorings, drifters, and profiling floats.
• Domain provides comprehensive coverage from Newfoundland to Venezuela.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and total data size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The system is described as being in development for transition to operations in 2028, suggesting it may be a pre-operational or research product.

Provenance

Source

Developed by Rutgers University, University of California Santa Cruz, Fathom Science Inc., and NOAA's National Ocean Service.

Collection Method

Generated by the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) with 4-Dimensional Variational (4D-Var) data assimilation, forced by meteorological data from HRRR and GFS forecasts.

Freshness

Daily forecast generation is mentioned, but a specific last update date is unknown.

Geography

Eastern seaboard of North America and Intra-Americas Seas, from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland to the mouth of the Orinoco River, Venezuela.