The AROBASE project: Development of a kilometre-scale multi-coupled modelling and forecasting system and first results

The AROBASE project aims to assemble a kilometre-scale limited-area multi-coupled modelling system of the physico-chemical atmosphere, the ocean (including sea-ice and marine biogeochemistry), waves and land surfaces (soil, vegetation, cities, snow, lakes and rivers) with important development criteria that are i) the transportable nature of the regional multi-coupled model and ii) the modular aspect to couple the relevant environmental components according to different applications. The AROBASE platform that will combine the AROME atmospheric model (with online chemistry and interactive aerosols) with the external surface model SURFEX, CTRIP for hydrological routing, NEMO and MFWAM for ocean and waves respectively, is built in the line of a seamless continuum of coupled modelling systems developed and used at CNRM, LACY and Météo-France.

AROBASE will first help to improve the understanding and representation of the exchange processes between the compartments of the meteorological and environmental system at fine scale. It is also a new tool for high-resolution numerical weather prediction, which makes it particularly necessary to guarantee its performance in the forecast mode and its relevance for monitoring and anticipating meteorological phenomena and their consequences. AROBASE is finally an important step to prepare the new generation of the regional climate model (CNRM-RCSM) towards a kilometre resolution with new integrated components.

The first results of the AROBASE platform will be presented during the conference, with a focus on the ocean-atmosphere-wave coupling, the air-sea interactions implied during severe meteorological situations over France metropolitan area and over-seas domains and impacts on numerical weather prediction.