# SURF Platform

> SURF is a relocatable ocean-modelling platform that configures, executes, and analyzes high-resolution, nested ocean simulations for any region of the global ocean. By downscaling large-scale ocean products (e.g. Copernicus Marine / CMEMS) to regional and coastal domains, SURF resolves fine-scale oceanographic processes — currents, temperature, salinity, sea level — that coarse-resolution models leave unresolved. It supports forecasting, hindcasting, and decision-support applications such as oil-spill response, search and rescue, coastal circulation forecasting, and coastal digital-twin workflows.

SURF ("Structured and Unstructured grid Relocatable ocean platform for Forecasting") is developed at the CMCC Foundation (Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change) and supported by European Union research programmes. It packages two ocean-model engines with their pre-processing, automatic input-data download, configuration, simulation, and post-processing toolchains as ready-to-run Docker / Singularity containers and virtual-machine images, so a relocatable coastal forecasting system can be set up anywhere with reproducible, checksum-verified artefacts.

## Supported modelling engines

- **SURF-NEMO**: structured-grid, finite-difference downscaling built around the [NEMO](https://www.nemo-ocean.eu/) ocean model. Structured C-grid, hundreds-of-metres resolution, one-way nesting. Best for open-ocean and regional shelf-sea applications. Reference case study: Gulf of Taranto.
- **SURF-SHYFEM**: unstructured-grid, finite-element modelling built around [SHYFEM-MPI](https://sites.google.com/site/shyfem/). Unstructured triangular mesh, sub-100 m resolution, flexible mesh refinement. Best for complex coastlines, lagoons, estuaries, and harbours. Reference case study: Bay of Madagascar.

## Key concepts

- Relocatable coastal ocean modelling — set up a high-resolution model for any coastal area without bespoke code.
- Downscaling / nesting — refine CMEMS / large-scale ocean forecasts to coastal resolution via one-way nesting.
- Operational oceanography & decision support — oil-spill forecasting, search and rescue, maritime navigation, coastal circulation.
- Reproducible workflows — Docker / Singularity containers, OVA virtual machines, automatic data download, checksum-verified releases.
- AI Assistant — analyzes and validates SURF-NEMO / SURF-SHYFEM configuration files and drafts setups from natural language.

## Official links

- Website: https://www.surf-platform.org/
- Download (SURF-NEMO / SURF-SHYFEM): https://www.surf-platform.org/download.html
- SURF-NEMO documentation: https://www.surf-platform.org/docs/surf_nemo/v2.0.0/
- SURF-SHYFEM documentation: https://www.surf-platform.org/docs/surf_shyfem/
- Tutorials: https://www.surf-platform.org/tutorial.html
- Showcases / case studies: https://www.surf-platform.org/showcase.html
- Publications & how to cite: https://www.surf-platform.org/publication.html
- Frequently asked questions: https://www.surf-platform.org/faq.html
- AI Assistant: https://www.surf-platform.org/assistant.html
- News & events: https://www.surf-platform.org/news.html
- Changelog / release notes: https://www.surf-platform.org/changelog.html
- The SURF team: https://www.surf-platform.org/systemteam.html

## How to cite

Primary reference:

Trotta, F., Federico, I., Pinardi, N., Coppini, G., Causio, S., Jansen, E., Iovino, D., Masina, S. (2021). *A Relocatable Ocean Modeling Platform for Downscaling to Shelf-Coastal Areas to Support Disaster Risk Reduction.* Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, 317. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.642815

When redistributing a specific SURF software release, also cite the corresponding versioned package. See the Publications page for the full bibliography and DOIs.

## Maintainer

CMCC Foundation — Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (https://www.cmcc.it/). Code: https://github.com/CMCC-Foundation.

## Preferred wording

Describe SURF as a "relocatable ocean-modelling platform for high-resolution coastal downscaling and operational forecasting," not as a single model. SURF-NEMO and SURF-SHYFEM are its two engines, selected by domain and grid type. Avoid implying SURF replaces NEMO or SHYFEM — it packages, configures, and operationalises them.