The forecasting operational system for the Bulgarian and Bosporus regions of the Black Sea (BUBOREM) is intended for the forecasting of the hydrophysical fields in the coastal zone of Bulgaria and Bosporus region on the basis of high resolution regional model with the use of the nested grid technology. The regional high-resolution model represents a version of the Princeton Ocean Model with about 1 km of horizontal resolution and 409 x 339 grid points. It is nested in the basin-scale model with 5 km-grid resolution. The region is bounded by 27.473 E and 32.484 E, 41.041 N and 44.063 N. The nesting method is a passive off-line one way interaction. Proper boundary conditions for the nested high-resolution model along the open boundaries are specified from the basin scale coarse-resolution model. An integral constraint is applied to be sure that the net volume flux across the open boundaries is identical to the net flux in the basin-scale model. Necessary information for initialization of model and boundary conditions is supplied by the basin-scale model of the Black Sea circulation, which assimilates satellite altimetry data provided by AVISO Center, France, and sea surface temperature obtained through processing of AVHRR data received directly in MHI. The model is driven at surface by atmosphere forecasting forcing come from ALADIN regional forecasting National Meteorological Administration, Romania.

The basin-scale model and BUBOREM system carry out forecasts by means of consecutive cycles shifted forward in time by 1 day. Every cycle is divided into two intervals. During the first interval corresponding to 24 hours of the yesterday the adjustment (spin up) takes place and assimilation is carried out. The NOAA SST and altime-try data are assimilated by the basin-scale model during the adjustment-assimilation interval. The BUBOREM obtains initial conditions one day in advance for adjustment purpose to get the improved initialization at the beginning of forecast. The second interval includes the period from 0 hour of UTC of the present day till 24 hours of UTC of the third day (the forcasting cycle). Both models run in a prognostic mode during this period of time.

The model output includes dynamical sea level, three-dimensional fields of current velocity, temperature, and salinity on 18 sigma levels and 2D mean fields of free surface elevation, heat and water flux and momentum fluxfor every 6 hours, starting from yesterday midnight and during the next three days.

Output in NetCDF format.

Data format can be delivered in any format or with specific information for any particular use.

Quality and accuracy was estimated during the off-line 2003-2007 drifters experiments and ECOOP validation experiment in 2008. The accuracy level of the predicted fields is consistent with the state of the art of the modeling of the World ocean circulation. Further improvement of the model assumes accurate tuning of parameterization of the mixing process in the upper layer of the sea.

For ship routing; fisheries; climate prediction; pollution management; specification of the boundary conditions for the nested high-resolution model along the open boundaries of the subregions.

Hydrometeorological Services, Search and Rescue Services, Fishery copmanies, Ship Navigation,. Oil/Gas Extracting companies.

Products are granted free of charge to all organizations that pursue research and educational purposes for their non-commercial activities. Data are distributed by ftp through a secure connection to a dedicated file server.

Released products are for the use of public-research institutions. All provided data are under non-transferable license. Data access is subject to the agreement with MHI.

BUBOREM graphic products are available on website http://behemoth.nerc-essc.ac.uk/ncWMS/ecoop.html

1. G.Korotaev, A.Kubryakov, E. Cordoneanu, V.Dorofeev, V.Fomin, A. Grigoriev, A.Kordzadze, T.Oguz, Yu. Ratner, D.Trukhchev, H.Slabakov Near-operational Black Sea nowcasting/forecasting system. / European Operational Oceanography: Present and Future. 2006, European Communities, 269-275

2. A.Kubryakov, A.Grigoriev, A.Kordzadze, G.Korotaev, S.Stefanescu, D.Trukhchev, V. Fomin Near-operational Black Sea nowcasting/forecasting system. / European Opera-tional Oceanography: Present and Future. 2006, European Communities, 605-610