Products from the Met Office global Forecasting Ocean Assimilation Model (FOAM) are now available through the Data and Products Distribution System (DPDS). FOAM is run once a day, from 0000 UTC, to produce a forecast out to five days ahead.

Global FOAM products are available every day at 1° resolution for the entire globe (42,188 sea points) at four times out to five days ahead (t+0, t+36, t+72 and t+120). Temperature and salinity are available at all 20 model depths (5 m, 15 m, 25 m, 35 m, 48 m, 67 m, 96 m, 139 m, 204 m, 301 m, 447 m, 666 m, 996 m, 1501 m, 2116 m, 2731 m, 3347 m, 3962 m, 4577 m and 5192 m) together with surface (5 m) currents (u and v components), mixed-layer depth, sea-ice thickness and sea-ice concentration.

Users can select exactly which data are required and specify how the data should be delivered (automatically or on demand, via e-mail or FTP). The data will be delivered on a daily basis, or can be downloaded as and when needed, and are provided in WMO (World Meteorological Organization) GRIB (Gridded Binary) format.

For information from a single day's model run (all parameters, all levels, all times) the charge for the output would be 249 Euros (ex VAT), with a minimum information charge of 100 Euro (ex VAT) for smaller amounts of data. For larger quantities of information discounts apply increasingly. These are calculated on the basis of the EPU (ECOMET product units) content of the information. For example: for 6 months of full output the price would be around 17,000 Euro (ex VAT), and for a whole year the price would be around 26,000 Euro (ex VAT).

More about the FOAM system