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Abstract

An integrated atmosphere-ocean-ecosystem model system was developed for the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank/New England Shelf. The core program of this system is the unstructured grid, finite-volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM). With an improved heat flux algorithm, the modified fifth-generation community mesoscale atmospheric model (MM5) rebuilt a meso-scale meteorological field of surface wind stress, net heat flux, shortwave isolation, precipitation via evaporation in the Gulf of Maine and adjacent coastal ocean from 1978 to 2006. This field was used to drive FVCOM for the simulation and assimilation experiments covering a period from 1995 to 2006. The model results show that both meteorological and oceanic fields exhibited significant interannaul variability in heat flux, wind stresses, water salinity and temperature, and subtidal currents. The subtidal circulation in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank was significantly influenced by the interannual variability of the water property and transport on the upstream Scotian Shelf. Ignoring the upstream flux condition directly affected the timing and intensity of the cyclonic gyre and thus the eastern Maine coastal current in summer as well as the onbank transport in the spring. The simulation results were validated with direct comparison with long-term observational data of subtidal currents available in the region. The integrated model system has been upgraded to the second generation with refined horizontal resolution in the coastal region and Nantucket Sound to resolve better the coastal currents and is being upgraded to the third generation with a refined horizontal resolution at the shelf break up to 300 m and with inclusion of all estuaries, inlet, and intertidal zones up to a horizontal resolution of 10-20 m.