Short School on Limited Area Ocean Modelling and Forecasting with the SURF Platform

Two-day intensive school on relocatable ocean modelling with the SURF platform, covering structured-grid (SURF-NEMO) and unstructured-grid (SURF-SHYFEM) frameworks for cross-scale downscaling from basin to coastal scales, with application-oriented sessions on oil spill response, Search and Rescue, marine plastics transport, and larval dispersal.

The Short School on Limited Area Ocean Modelling and Forecasting is an intensive two-day training designed to introduce PhD students and early-career researchers to relocatable ocean modelling using the SURF platform.

The school introduces both structured-grid (SURF-NEMO) and unstructured (SURF-SHYFEM) modelling frameworks, providing a comprehensive overview of cross-scale downscaling strategies from basin-scale circulation to complex coastal dynamics.

Participants will be guided through the full modelling workflow - from model setup and execution, to validation and application-oriented analysis - using scientifically relevant case-study regions.

The programme combines conceptual lectures with structured hands-on sessions and participant-driven applications, highlighting the added value of high-resolution ocean modelling in research and decision-support contexts.

The training explores representative oceanographic environments, including shelf–open ocean interfaces, island systems, and semi-enclosed bays with connected coastal dynamics. These domains provide realistic test beds for investigating transport processes, hazard assessment, river–shelf interactions, and coastal circulation under complex bathymetric and forcing conditions.