4.6 Article

Lagrangian validation of numerical drifter trajectories using drifting buoys: Application to the Agulhas system

Journal

OCEAN MODELLING
Volume 29, Issue 4, Pages 269-276

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.ocemod.2009.05.005

Keywords

Numerical Lagrangian drifters; Model validation; Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics; Drifting buoys

Funding

  1. Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, NWO [EO-079]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

The skill of numerical Lagrangian drifter trajectories in three numerical models is assessed by comparing these numerically obtained paths to the trajectories of drifting buoys in the real ocean. The skill assessment is performed using the two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test. To demonstrate the assessment procedure, it is applied to three different models of the Agulhas region. The test can either be performed using crossing positions of one-dimensional sections in order to test model performance in specific locations, Or using the total two-dimensional data set of trajectories. The test yields four quantities: a binary decision of model skill, a confidence level which can be used as a measure of goodness-of-fit of the model, a test statistic which can be used to determine the sensitivity of the confidence level, and cumulative distribution functions that aid in the qualitative analysis. The ordering of models by their confidence levels is the same as the ordering based on the qualitative analysis, which suggests that the method is suited for model validation. Only one of the three models, a 1/10 degrees two-way nested regional ocean model, might have skill in the Agulhas region. The other two models, a 1/2 degrees global model and a 1/8 degrees assimilative model, might have skill only on some sections in the region. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available