GANES

There is now increasing interest in off shore oil exploration along the edge of the European Continental Shelf, and in the interaction between shelf edge flows and the circulation of limited sea regions. Therefore there is a need for models which extend beyond the shelf edge and span both a part of the open ocean, the shelf edge and the shallow sea regions, which can be used to predict ocean currents and temperatures. Boundary conditions constrain limited area models of this type and will influence all parts of the shelf domain within a short period of time. Satellite data assimilated into larger domain open ocean models is probably the only way to provide better boundary conditions which will permit better and longer prediction of coastal and shelf flows.