a Coupled Air/ocean/wave Mesoscale Prediction System

A significant advance in the Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) is described. Using the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF), the COAMPS atmospheric model together with the NRL Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) and a wave model are integrated into a relocatable, single executable application. Careful code design maintains the integrity of each model, allowing each to function both within the coupled system and as a stand-alone model. Exchange of fields between components, which may execute on non-overlapping sets of processors, is efficiently handled by the regridding and inter- processor communication methods provided by ESMF. Description of how the system is used to study air/ocean/wave coupling and its impact on some regional weather scenarios is also presented.