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    Hello,<br>
    <br>
    Thanks everyone for the advice. I’ve repeated the simulation, this
    time with useOBCSbalance = .FALSE.<br>
    In the attached figure:<br>
    The top panel shows the comparison between the MEDSEA SSH (black),
    the MITgcm output with useOBCSbalance = .TRUE. (green), and with
    useOBCSbalance = .FALSE. (red).<br>
    The bottom panel shows the atmospheric pressure used to force the
    model over the domain, as it also influences the SSH.<br>
    Additionally, I’ve included another image with a screenshot from a
    mareograph near Tarragona lon=1.21° E, Lat=41.08° N (unfortunately,
    I don’t have access to the raw data, only the screenshot). But, it
    may help to get an idea of the observed nearshore SSH.<br>
    <br>
    The model behaviour has improved, disabling the balance gives the
    model more freedom to follow the low frequency variation, which are
    qualitatively similar to MEDSEA. However, there are still
    differences in the mean SSH values.<br>
    <br>
    Do you have any further suggestions I could try to improve the
    result?<br>
    <br>
    Best regards,<br>
    <p>Jordi</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/7/25 17:11, Dimitris Menemenlis
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
      cite="mid:02DD7326-8DF1-4E1D-8E98-0C2230582A3B@gmail.com">
      <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
      <div>So Martin’s guess is correct.  Because of:</div>
      <div>   useOBCSbalance=.TRUE.,</div>
      <div>you are suppressing all volume transport at the boundaries
        except for tidal transports, which you prescribe on top of that.</div>
      <div><br>
      </div>
      <div>D.</div>
      <div><br>
      </div>
      <div>
        <blockquote type="cite">
          <div>On Jul 9, 2025, at 8:03 AM, Jordi Iglesias
            <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:jiglesias@icm.csic.es"><jiglesias@icm.csic.es></a> wrote:</div>
          <br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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            <div style="padding-bottom: 1px;"> Hi everyone,<br>
              <br>
              <p>Thanks a lot for your comments and help. Following your
                recommendations, I’m attaching two figures and the
                namelists. </p>
              <p>Fig1.jpg shows the MEDSEA parent model, with my domain
                marked by a red rectangle, as well as the three points
                where I plotted the SSH from the parent model.</p>
              Fig2.jpg contains three subplots. The top panel
              corresponds to the SouthWest of Sicily, where I compare
              the SSH at that point with and without tides from the
              MEDSEA model. I also include the MEDSEA SSH averaged over
              my domain (black line) shared in all plots and the MITgcm
              output (my result) shown as a black dashed line. I repeat
              this comparison in the south of my domain (cyan) and in
              Gibraltar (red).<br>
              <br>
              Note: The Y-axis scales are not shared between subplots,
              but in all cases, it's clear that the parent model shows a
              low frequency SSH signal that I’m currently unable to
              reproduce in MITgcm.<br>
              As you mentioned, probably I should disable the balanced
              flow option. Additionally, I’m sharing the namelists data
              and data.obcs, if you have any advice or suggestions, I’d
              be happy to try them.<br>
              <br>
              Thanks again for your help!<br>
              Best regards,<br>
              <p>Jordi</p>
              <p><br>
              </p>
              <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 8/7/25 17:24, Martin Losch
                wrote:<br>
              </div>
              <blockquote type="cite"
                cite="mid:45C12C69-2106-44E7-9A07-44252775F1BC@awi.de">
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                Hi Jordi,
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div>it would help if you could provide your namelist
                  files. And maybe the customised *_OPTIONS.h files, if
                  they are very different from the standard ones.</div>
                <div>Do you use open boundary conditions? Balanced flow
                  is maybe an issue?</div>
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div>Martin</div>
                <div>
                  <div><br>
                    <blockquote type="cite">
                      <div>On 8. Jul 2025, at 16:57, Dimitris Menemenlis
                        <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
                          href="mailto:dmenemenlis@gmail.com"
                          moz-do-not-send="true"><dmenemenlis@gmail.com></a>
                        wrote:</div>
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                        <div
style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Hi
                          Jodi, perhaps a good place to start would be
                          to understand cause of the larger oscillations
                          in MEDSEA and ROMS, which might then help you
                          diagnose what is missing in your MITgcm
                          configuration.  For example, if the ~10-day
                          oscillation in MEDSEA and ROMS is primarily
                          caused by transport through Gibraltar Strait,
                          then you could look at MITgcm’s transport
                          through Gibraltar Strait to see whether it has
                          been correctly prescribed.
                          <div><br>
                          </div>
                          <div>D.<br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfMessage">
                            <div><br>
                              <blockquote type="cite">
                                <div>On Jul 8, 2025, at 6:13 AM, Jordi
                                  Iglesias <a
                                    class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
                                    href="mailto:jiglesias@icm.csic.es"
                                    moz-do-not-send="true"><jiglesias@icm.csic.es></a>
                                  wrote:</div>
                                <br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
                                <div>
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                                    <p>Dear MITgcm community,<br>
                                      <br>
                                      Over the past few months, I’ve
                                      been struggling to achieve
                                      realistic sea surface height
                                      ("Eta") results in my MITgcm
                                      simulations. I’ve tried several
                                      configurations,including
                                      non-hydrostatic,
                                      quasi-non-hydrostatic, and
                                      nonlinear free surface options,
                                      but the SSH output often differs
                                      significantly from the parent
                                      model (the Copernicus
                                      Mediterranean analysis, MEDSEA).
                                      I’ve attached an example and also
                                      shared a link to illustrate the
                                      issue. I have tides configured,
                                      and the ssh is initialized from
                                      MEDSEA data. However, when I
                                      compare the SSH output with the
                                      parent model (or with a ROMS
                                      simulation, for example), it
                                      appears to oscillate around a
                                      constant value that doesn’t evolve
                                      much over time, or changes are
                                      very small.<br>
                                      <br>
                                      A summary of my configuration:
                                      Horizontal resolution: 1.6 km, NW
                                      Mediterranean Sea, Atmospheric
                                      forcing: ECMWF, initial ssh set
                                      with pSurfInitFile,
                                      SphericalPolarGrid,
                                      quasiHydrostatic = .TRUE.,
                                      nonlinFreeSurf = 3, rigidLid =
                                      .FALSE., implicitFreeSurface =
                                      .TRUE., <br>
                                    </p>
                                    <p>If any additional parameters
                                      would help diagnose the issue, I’d
                                      be happy to provide them.<br>
                                      <br>
                                      The temperature, salinity, and
                                      velocity fields are generally in
                                      good agreement with ROMS and
                                      MEDSEA, but I’d really like to
                                      improve the SSH performance. Has
                                      anyone encountered a similar issue
                                      or found strategies to improve SSH
                                      in MITgcm?<br>
                                      <br>
                                      Thanks in advance for your help!<br>
                                      <br>
                                      Best regards,<br>
                                      Jordi<br>
                                      <br>
                                      <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://saco.csic.es/s/c2fSgN5RWPRcDSQ" moz-do-not-send="true">https://saco.csic.es/s/c2fSgN5RWPRcDSQ</a><br>
                                    </p>
                                    <p><br>
                                    </p>
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                                  <lt-container></lt-container> <span
id="cid:D8924F77-9B1B-4633-B3DF-F20E164CDA90"><Screenshot from
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              </blockquote>
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            <span id="cid:85626D64-FA85-4913-AC51-9AC50E9FC1CE"><fig1.jpg></span><span
              id="cid:53F558FA-2DC3-49C3-8A56-AC2980468BCE"><data.txt></span><span
              id="cid:03985B92-7490-4852-9947-4900C04CE5B5"><data.obcs></span><span
              id="cid:94849AC6-7104-4BFA-9E47-D096094D2691"><fig2.jpg></span>_______________________________________________<br>
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