wave model for representing sea conditions

Wave forecasting models allow the representation of sea states based on a spectral resolution at the global scale or at the scale of ocean basins. This code calculates the evolution of the sea state by decomposing it into a wave spectrum that propagates in different directions and with different periods. During the propagation, the wave energy is increased or decreased by the effects of wind, breaking waves and energy exchanges between the different components.

The wave forecasts available on data.shom.fr are calculated with 2 different types of models: MFWAM for the offshore domain (resolution from 0.5° to 0.1°) and Wavewatch III ® (WW3) for the coastal domain (resolution from 2' to 200m).

MFWAM is a sea state forecasting model (wind wave and swell) derived from the third generation WAM code (WAMDI Group, 1988).

Wavewatch III ® (WW3) is developed in a collaboration between the United States Weather Service (NOAA/NCEP), Shom, the University of Darmstadt in Germany, and other partners. The forecasts published on data.shom.fr are issued from the parameterization carried out and optimized by the Shom and Météo-France within the framework of the Homonim project (national coastal flood/wave/storm warning system).

 
Citation proposal
(2017) . wave model for representing sea conditions. https://services.data.shom.fr:/geonetwork/db/api/records/OCEANO_MODELE_VAGUES.xml

Simple

Date ( Publication )
2017-02-21
Identifier

http://www.shom.fr/OCEANO/MODELE_VAGUES

Credit

Shom et Météo-France

  Point of contact

Maintenance and update frequency
Daily
Update scope
Dataset
Keywords ( Theme )

  • model

  • oceanography

  • wave

  • product

  • open data

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 ( Theme )
INSPIRE Spatial scope
Use limitation

Data free of use by acknowledging its source. Open licence Etalab v. 2.0 avril 2017.

Use limitation

Data free of use by acknowledging its source. Open licence Etalab v. 2.0 avril 2017.

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
Licence Ouverte version 2.0 Open Licence version 2.0
Access constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
Pas de restriction d'accès public. No public access restriction.
Classification
Unclassified
Spatial representation type
Grid
Metadata language
French
Character set
UTF8
Topic category
  • Oceans
N
S
E
W


Supplemental Information

The size of the model domains considered often requires the use of relatively loose meshes (generally from 1° to 0.25°) in order to keep acceptable the computation time. A succession of nested models allows to reach finer resolutions, from the global scale to the regional scale (a few kilometers) and the local scale (a few hundred meters). Another technique to reach high resolutions at the coast while avoiding model nesting is the use of unstructured grids.

The models are regularly compared with observations made by the in-situ wave buoy networks (Cerema).

Distribution format

  • NetCDF

    (

    4

    )

  Point of contact

OnLine resource
Portail d'information géographique du Shom  
OnLine resource
Access point / WMS  

Access point / WMS

Hierarchy level
Series

Conformance result

Date ( Publication )
2010-11-23
Explanation

Information sur la conformité au règlement d'interopérabilité des séries et des services de données géographiques.

Pass
true

Conformance result

Date ( Publication )
2013-12-10
Explanation

Information sur la conformité de la ressource à une spécification (INSPIRE).

Pass
true
Statement

The sea state model outputs available on data.shom.fr provide, for each run, a forecasts from day D to day D+2/D+3/D+4, depending on the configuration.

At the global and regional scales, forecasts are produced by Météo-France’s global MFWAM model (GLOB01, 0.1° resolution), forced by the ARPEGE meteorological model from Météo-France. To optimize visualization, spatial downsampling is applied based on GLOB01 configuration:

- GLOB05: MFWAM model, global 0.5° resolution grid;

- EURAT01: MFWAM model, European 0.1° resolution grid;

- ANGUY01: MFWAM model, 0.1° resolution grid for Antilles-Guyane area;

- MASCA01: MFWAM model, 0.1° resolution grid for Indian Ocean area.

At coastal scales, sea state forecasts are produced using the Wavewatch III ®model (configurations developed by Shom in partnership with Météo-France):

- NORGAS-UG, MENOR-UG, ANGUY-CG and INDIEN-UG: unstructured grid from the WW3 model, with a resolution ranging from 10km offshore to 200m at the coast. On data.shom.fr, these irregular grids are reprojected onto regular grids with different resolutions: 2', 500m and 200m. The closer to the coast the area is, the more refined the resolution is (for example: NORGAS-2MIN -> MANCHE-NORD-500M -> NORMANDIE-200M). For metropolitan France, WW3 is forced by the Météo-France ARPEGE weather model; in the Antilles-Guyane and the Réunion-Mayotte areas WW3 is forced by the Météo-France AROME Outre-Mer model.

Metadata

File identifier
OCEANO_MODELE_VAGUES.xml   XML
Metadata language
French
Character set
UTF8
Hierarchy level
Series
Hierarchy level name

Collection de données

Date stamp
2025-12-16T14:00:00
Metadata standard name

ISO 19115:2003/19139

Metadata standard version

1.0

  Point of contact

 
 

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