Borey: A High-Resolution Regional Atmosphere-Ocean-Sea Ice-Wave Forecasting System and Hindcast Dataset for the Barents and Kara Seas

Abstract

Borey is a high-resolution regional modeling and operational forecasting system for the Barents and Kara Seas. It combines WRF for the atmosphere, NEMO-SI3 for the ocean and sea ice, and WW3 for waves on approximately 3--6\,km grids, and generates daily forecasts to 72 hours. We describe the model chain and production workflow and present an accompanying hourly hindcast of surface conditions from August 2015 to August 2023. The archive provides aligned atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, and wave fields for regional marine studies and a baseline for evaluating the operational system. Comparisons with observations and observation-based products show that Borey captures much of the variability in near-surface atmospheric conditions and ocean temperature. Skill in the evaluated WRF, NEMO, and SI3 forecasts changes only modestly across the three-day window. The main limitations are persistent rather than rapidly growing errors: sea surface temperature is generally too cold, sea ice concentration and occurrence are overestimated during seasonal retreat, and significant wave height is underestimated. Borey should therefore complement observation-constrained products. The planned public release will provide hourly surface fields, native grids, provenance information, and validation outputs for regional analysis, model development, and carefully evaluated data-driven forecasting and data-assimilation research.