Frequently Asked Questions

SURF is a relocatable ocean-modelling platform that configures, executes, and analyzes high-resolution, nested ocean simulations for any region of the global ocean. By downscaling large-scale ocean products to regional and coastal domains, it resolves fine-scale processes — currents, temperature, salinity, and sea level — that coarse-resolution models leave unresolved. SURF supports forecasting, hindcasting, and decision-support applications. It is developed at the CMCC Foundation and supported by European Union research programmes.

SURF-NEMO is the structured-grid engine of SURF, built around the NEMO ocean model. It uses a structured, finite-difference C-grid, reaches hundreds-of-metres resolution, and applies one-way nesting from a coarser parent model. It is best suited to open-ocean and regional shelf-sea applications. The reference case study is the Gulf of Taranto.

SURF-SHYFEM is the unstructured-grid engine of SURF, built around SHYFEM-MPI. It uses an unstructured, finite-element triangular mesh with flexible refinement and reaches sub-100 m resolution. It is best suited to complex coastlines, lagoons, estuaries, and harbours. The reference case study is the Bay of Madagascar.

A relocatable platform lets you set up a high-resolution ocean model for any coastal area without writing bespoke code for each site. You specify the geographic domain, grid, vertical levels, time step, and forcing sources; the platform handles input-data download, model configuration, simulation, and post-processing. SURF is relocatable in exactly this sense — the same toolchain is re-targeted to a new region by changing its configuration, not its code.

SURF is used by oceanographers, operational forecasting centres, and decision-support teams. It addresses the gap between coarse global/regional ocean products and the high resolution needed near the coast, enabling applications such as oil-spill response, search and rescue, maritime navigation, coastal circulation forecasting, fisheries and environmental protection, and coastal digital-twin workflows.

Choose by domain and grid type. Use SURF-NEMO (structured grid) for open-ocean and regional shelf-sea domains where a regular grid is appropriate. Use SURF-SHYFEM (unstructured mesh) for complex coastlines, lagoons, estuaries, and harbours where flexible mesh refinement and very high coastal resolution matter. Both support one-way nesting and hindcast and forecast workflows.

SURF-NEMO ships as a containerised, ready-to-run distribution. Pull the SURF-NEMO image and run it with Docker or Singularity; the container bundles the model, pre- and post-processing scripts, and example case studies, so no manual compilation is required. SURF-SHYFEM is distributed the same way. Virtual-machine (OVA) images are also available. See the download page.

SURF packages the full operational chain — automatic input-data download, configuration, simulation, and post-processing — as reproducible containers, so a coastal forecasting system can be scheduled and re-run on laptops or clusters. Because configurations are relocatable and artefacts are checksum-verified, the same setup can be deployed at multiple pilot sites and reproduced reliably for operational use.

Download SURF-NEMO or SURF-SHYFEM as a Docker/Singularity container or virtual-machine image, define your domain and forcing in a configuration file, then run the bundled pre-processing, simulation, and post-processing steps. The bundled reference case studies (Gulf of Taranto for NEMO, Bay of Madagascar for SHYFEM) provide a working starting point you adapt to your own region. See the download page and the tutorials.

SURF performs one-way nesting: a large-scale parent product (for example Copernicus Marine / CMEMS analyses and forecasts) supplies initial and lateral open-boundary conditions to a higher-resolution SURF child domain. SURF automates downloading the upstream fields and interpolating them onto the child grid, producing kilometre- to hundred-metre-scale coastal fields from coarser global or regional inputs.

SURF-NEMO automates the configuration of a NEMO-based coastal downscaling experiment: domain definition, grid and vertical levels, time step, bathymetry, and forcing. The SURF AI Assistant additionally analyzes and validates a SURF-NEMO or SURF-SHYFEM configuration file (technical and scientific checks) and can draft a configuration from a plain-language description.

SURF produces high-resolution current, temperature, and salinity fields for a coastal domain by downscaling larger-scale forecasts. These fields can drive Lagrangian transport and oil-spill models, and support search-and-rescue and maritime-navigation decision support. Resolving fine-scale coastal circulation is essential for accurate near-shore trajectory prediction.

Cite the primary reference: Trotta, F., Federico, I., Pinardi, N., Coppini, G., Causio, S., Jansen, E., Iovino, D., Masina, S. (2021). A Relocatable Ocean Modeling Platform for Downscaling to Shelf-Coastal Areas to Support Disaster Risk Reduction. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, 317. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.642815. When redistributing a specific SURF software release, also cite the corresponding versioned package. The full bibliography and DOIs are on the publications page.