Introducing New Gulf of Maine Operational Forecast System

This month, NOAA unveiled the new Gulf of Maine Operational Forecast System (GoMOFS). This system provides users with real-time and forecasts of surface water levels, 3-D fields of water currents, water temperature, and salinity out to 72 hours. GoMOFS predictions support safe and efficient marine navigation, allowing mariners to plan their routes and avoid accidents. The system’s nowcasts and forecasts can also aid in emergency response, ecological applications, coastal management, and harmful algal bloom forecasts.

Sample display of the Gulf of Maine Operational Forecast System’s nowcast output of the surface current field (white arrows) and water levels (background color) on 12:00 UTC, January 10, 2018.
Sample display of the Gulf of Maine Operational Forecast System’s nowcast output of the surface current field (white arrows) and water levels (background color) on 12:00 UTC, January 10, 2018.

The system domain covers the Gulf of Maine region, including eastern Long Island Sound, Georges Bank, and the coast of Nova Scotia. GoMOFS uses the Regional Ocean Modeling System developed by the ocean modeling community and supported by Rutgers University as its core hydrodynamic model. The system is able to resolve coastal ocean hydrodynamic features as fine as 700 meters.
The development and implementation of GoMOFS is the result of over three years of collaboration among offices within NOAA. The Office of Coast Survey led model development while the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services tested the model and transitioned it to operations. National Weather Service’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction Central Operations hosts and operates the system.
GoMOFS outputs are accessible to public users and will also be available on the nowCOAST web mapping portal.

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