Ocean Forecasting at the Regional Scale: Actual Status

Abstract. Operational ocean forecasting systems provide important information on physical and biogeochemical variables across global, regional, and coastal scales. Regional systems, with higher resolution than global models, capture small-scale processes like eddies and tides, but lack detailed land-sea interactions essential for coastal areas. These models, often nested within global systems, vary in spatial resolution (1–20 km) and may include biogeochemical components. While regional systems focus on physical parameters such as sea surface height, temperature, and currents, only a few incorporate biogeochemical processes. The growing demand for biogeochemical data has prompted advancements and more systems will include this component in the coming years.

This paper provides an overview on status of regional forecasting systems at today, discussing examples as the Copernicus Marine Service from the OceanPredict, analysing the offer in terms of covered regions, resolution and ocean variables product catalogue.