Towards an End-to-End Analysis and Prediction System for Weather, Climate, and Marine Applications in the Red Sea
Authors: Hoteit Ibrahim , Abualnaja Yasser , Afzal Shehzad , Ait-El-Fquih Boujemaa , Akylas Triantaphyllos , Antony Charls , Dawson Clint , Asfahani Khaled , Brewin Robert J. , Cavaleri Luigi , Cerovecki Ivana , Cornuelle Bruce , Desamsetti Srinivas , Attada Raju , Dasari Hari , Sanchez-Garrido Jose , Genevier Lily , El Gharamti Mohamad , Gittings John A. , Gokul Elamurugu , Gopalakrishnan Ganesh , Guo Daquan , Hadri Bilel , Hadwiger Markus , Hammoud Mohammed Abed , Hendershott Myrl , Hittawe Mohamad , Karumuri Ashok , Knio Omar , Köhl Armin , Kortas Samuel , Krokos George , Kunchala Ravi , Issa Leila , Lakkis Issam , Langodan Sabique , Lermusiaux Pierre , Luong Thang , Ma Jingyi , Le Maitre Olivier , Mazloff Matthew , El Mohtar Samah , Papadopoulos Vassilis P. , Platt Trevor , Pratt Larry , Raboudi Naila , Racault Marie-Fanny , Raitsos Dionysios E. , Razak Shanas , Sanikommu Sivareddy , Sathyendranath Shubha , Sofianos Sarantis , Subramanian Aneesh , Sun Rui , Titi Edriss , Toye Habib , Triantafyllou George , Tsiaras Kostas , Vasou Panagiotis , Viswanadhapalli Yesubabu , Wang Yixin , Yao Fengchao , Zhan Peng , Zodiatis George 
Published: September 2020

The Red Sea, home to the second-longest coral reef system in the world, is a vital resource for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Red Sea provides 90% of the Kingdom’s potable water by desalinization, supporting tourism, shipping, aquaculture, and fishing industries, which together contribute about 10%–20% of the country’s GDP. All these activities, and those elsewhere in the Red Sea region, critically depend on oceanic and atmospheric conditions. At a time of mega-development projects along the Red Sea coast, and global warming, authorities are working on optimizing the harnessing of environmental resources, including renewable energy and rainwater harvesting. All these require high-resolution weather and climate information. Toward this end, we have undertaken a multipronged research and development activity in which we are developing an integrated data-driven regional coupled modeling system. The telescopically nested components include 5-km- to 600-m-resolution atmospheric models to address weather and climate challenges, 4-km- to 50-m-resolution ocean models with regional and coastal configurations to simulate and predict the general and mesoscale circulation, 4-km- to 100-m-resolution ecosystem models to simulate the biogeochemistry, and 1-km- to 50-m-resolution wave models. In addition, a complementary probabilistic transport modeling system predicts dispersion of contaminant plumes, oil spill, and marine ecosystem connectivity. Advanced ensemble data assimilation capabilities have also been implemented for accurate forecasting. Resulting achievements include significant advancement in our understanding of the regional circulation and its connection to the global climate, development, and validation of long-term Red Sea regional atmospheric–oceanic–wave reanalyses and forecasting capacities. These products are being extensively used by academia, government, and industry in various weather and marine studies and operations, environmental policies, renewable energy applications, impact assessment, flood forecasting, and more.