Optimal assimilation of current and surface elevation data in a two-dimensional numerical tidal model (Q1893708)

The author studies an inverse problem for a two-dimensional oceanographic model in which kinematic nonlinearities are neglected but nonlinear friction is included. Data from current meters and/or tide gauges are used to calculate the bottom friction coefficient, water depth and wind drag coefficient. The norm of discrepancies between theoretical and measured values at the data stations is minimized. Gradients of that norm are calculated by an adjoint scheme, numerical optimization is carried out by Nash's truncated Newton package. By tests with synthetic data it was found that the method works well for initial guesses within \(20-25\%\) of the true values. Convergence was more likely if both current and surface elevation data were used rather than only one of them.