ROAM – Biovis

The Relocatable Ocean Atmosphere Model (ROAM) system was developed under Bluelink  to enable the Navy to make high resolution nowcasts and forecasts to support Navy operations. ROAM offers a user-driven system in which Defence personnel can independently initiate a forecast for any part of the world at any time. To date, ROAM developments have focused on predicting physical variables (temperature, sound speed, salinity, currents, sea-level, wave height, wind, humidity etc). The modelling tools that presently underpin ROAM are SHOC (hydrodynamic model), SWAN (wave model) and CCAM (atmospheric model).

Many aspects of maritime operations also require an understanding of the water clarity which is influenced by the biological, sediment and optical properties of the ocean. For example, the optical depth of the water column is important for determining at what depth an object can be seen from above. The water colour affects contrast between shallow man-made objects and natural (fish, whales, reef etc) objects. Under the right conditions, the movement of ships, divers, AUV’s or submarines can cause biological organisms to generate bioluminescence. The ability to predict water clarity and optical properties will provide Defence with an enhanced level of understanding of the operational environment.

This project will develop a marine biogeochemical modelling capability within the ROAM modelling system. The concept of operations for this capability is that it will be able to provide a quantitative assessment of the vertical and horizontal visibility of the ocean as determined by the interaction of submerged objects with the natural environment (surface light field, water clarity, bottom colour) by well as the potential for light sources such as bioluminescence. ROAM-Biovis will be underpinned by coupled hydrodynamic – BGC data assimilating model that will use observations to constrain model predictions.

Our team is predominantly involved in the assimilation of remote-sensing observations into the EMS BGC component of the ROAM-biovis system. Ocean colour remote sensing is undertaken by a number of space agencies worldwide. A major goal of this project is to configure a data assimilation system for both the global OMAPS-T: WBGC or OMAPS: DGBC and ROAM-Biovis. It is expected that ROAM-Biovis shall be able to assimilate observations from remote sensing or in-situ sources. There is an opportunity to assimilate remote sensing observations of Ocean Colour collecting by VIIRS, and other operation satellite platforms such as Sentinel-3A, B.