Development, implementation, and validation of a California coastal ocean modeling, data assimilation, and forecasting system

Lastly, the impact of two recent upgrades to the system is quantified. Switching the lateral boundary conditions from a U.S. west coast regional model to the global HYCOM (HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model) model results in an improvement in the simulation of the seasonal and interannual variations in the SSH, especially south of Pt. Conception (120.47°W, 34.45°N). The assimilation of altimetric satellite SSH data also results in an improvement in the model surface currents when compared to independent surface drifter observations.