DATA MODEL INTEGRATION OF SPM TRANSPORT IN THE DUTCH COASTAL ZONE

Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) is an important environmental parameter in coastal seas such as the North Sea. Our description and understanding of the complex dynamical SPM transport system can be much improved by means of an integration of remote sensing data and numerical modelling. SPM data products retrieved from MERIS RR ocean colour by VU-IVM, which include information on the uncertainty in the data, are very suitable to be used to update the Delft3D-WAQ sediment transport model in an Ensemble Kalman Filtering approach. The sediment transport model proper is provided with information on water motion from the Delft3D-Flow hydrodynamic model and with surface wave parameters from a combination of SWAN wave model data and wave buoy observations, such that a robust modelling system results. The robustness of both data and model are prerequisites for a successful Kalman Filtering. Eventually, the assimilation of the mostly daily MERIS observations enables to overcome the limitations of cloud cover and restriction to the sea surface layer inherent to space borne ocean colour observations