Currents Forecast : Hawaiʻi
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Disclaimer: These model results provide a scientific prediction of existing and future conditions. As with any forecast, however, accuracy cannot be guaranteed and caution is advised. While considerable effort has been made to implement all data components in a thorough, correct, and accurate manner, numerous sources of error are possible. The data are provided free of charge without warranty of any kind.
Disclaimer: These data were generated as part of an academic research project. Accuracy cannot be guaranteed and caution is advised. While considerable effort has been made to implement all data components in a thorough, correct, and accurate manner, numerous sources of error are possible. The data are provided free of charge without warranty of any kind.
PacIOOS’ Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) provides a 7-day, 3-hourly forecast for the region surrounding the main Hawaiian Islands at approximately 4-km (2.5-mile) resolution. The forecast is run daily and gets updated on this website around 1:30 PM Hawaiʻi Standard Time (UTC-10) every afternoon. ROMS (http://myroms.org) is an open source, community-supported model widely adopted by the scientific community for a diverse range of applications. Model runs are configured and produced for the Hawaiʻi region by Dr. Brian Powell and lab within the Department of Oceanography in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Boundary conditions are provided by the global, 1/12-degree (~9-km) HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). Atmospheric forcing is generated by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for the region surrounding the main Hawaiian Islands (wrf_hi) at approximately 6-km resolution. Tide forcing uses the Oregon State University (OSU) Tidal Prediction Software (OTPS) TOPEX/Poseidon global inverse solution (TPXO) to derive barotropic tidal elevation and velocity. Furthermore, data are assimilated over the previous 3 days using all available observations to improve the model estimate of the current ocean state before forecasts are run. Assimilated observations may include satellite-based sea surface temperatures from MODIS, AVHRR, or OSTIA; satellite-based sea surface height from AVISO; surface currents from PacIOOS high-frequency radios (HFR); and in-situ water temperature and salinity profiles from ARGO floats and ocean glider autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV).
The ROMS model also provides a Water Temperature Forecast and Salinity Forecast for the main Hawaiian Islands.