Validation of the Global Relocatable Tide/Surge Model PCTides

Abstract

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has developed a global, relocatable, tide/surge forecast system called PCTides. This system was designed in response to a U.S. Navy requirement to rapidly produce tidal predictions anywhere in the world. The system is composed of a two-dimensional barotropic ocean model driven by tidal forcing only or in conjunction with surface wind and pressure forcing. PCTides is unique in its ability to forecast tidal parameters for a user-specified latitude/longitude domain easily and quickly, and is especially useful in areas where observations are nonexistent. PCTides provides short-term (daily to weekly) predictions of water-level elevation and depth-averaged ocean currents. The system has been tested in numerous regions and validated against observations collected in conjunction with several navy exercises.