Data collected from the NATO Reseach Vessel Alliance, the R/V Lucky Lady (UMass.- Dartmouth), the R/V Neritic (UMass.-Boston) and the R/V Oceanus (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, for the ECOHAB project) during the period 6-12 June 2001, as well as remotely sensed data, has been combined with historical Massachusetts Bay and Gulf of Maine data to provide an estimate for the current synoptic conditions. This estimate of synoptic conditions provide the initialization conditions for the Harvard Ocean Prediction System (HOPS) model simulations.

The ASCOT-01 simulation and operational system consists of a set of three two-way nested domains: the Northwest Atlantic (NWA), the Gulf of Maine (GOM) and Massachusetts Bay (MB). The specifics of the individual domains are given in other documents. In the operational context, there is two-way nesting between the NWA and GOM (NWA/GOM) domains and the GOM and MB (GOM/MB) domains. The NWA/GOM nested run provides boundary conditions for the GOM during the GOM/MB nested run. Results presented below are for the Massachusetts Bay domain only.