INGV - Mediterranean Forecasting System

The INGV Mediterranean Forecasting System (MFS) is a numerical ocean prediction service that produces analyses, short term forecasts and reanalyses for the entire Mediterranean Sea. 

MFS became operational in the late ’90 and it was developed within the VI and VII EU Framework programs, the national program Ritmare and it has been part of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service Phase 1.

The MFS is a two-way coupled hydrodynamic-wave system with a data assimilation component. The hydrodynamic component is an implementation of the NEMO model version 3.4 (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean) at 1/16 degree horizontal resolution and 72 vertical levels, while WAVEWATCH III model version 3.14 is its wave component.

The data assimilation is based on OceanVAR software, a 3D variational assimilation system.

Two different implementations of the system are available:

1. ECMWF MFS, forced by analyses and forecasts from the ECMWF Integrated Forecasting System which have a horizontal resolution of 1/8 degree (~13.5 Km);
2. COSMO MFS, forced by analyses and forecasts from the COSMO model in the COSMO-ME configuration, run by the Italian Air Force meteorological centre, which have a horizontal resolution of 1/22 degree (~5 Km).

For both systems analyses are produced weekly for the previous 14 days.

Every day ECMWF MFS produces a 10-days forecast as daily mean outputs and a 5-days forecast as hourly mean outputs, while COSMO MFS produces a 3-days forecast both with hourly and daily mean outputs.