HYCOM

HYCOM stands for HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model, a numerical general circulation model used to simulate three-dimensional ocean currents, temperatures, and salinity fields. It is a community model developed by the HYCOM consortium and is employed by universities, national laboratories, and government agencies for both research and operational forecasting.

The model solves the hydrostatic, Boussinesq primitive equations on a curvilinear horizontal grid and uses a generalized vertical coordinate. This hybrid vertical system blends depth-based layers, terrain-following coordinates, and density-based surfaces to better handle complex topography and stratification, reducing numerical errors in surface and interior regions. HYCOM supports multiple horizontal resolutions and can be configured for global or regional domains, using finite-volume discretization and standard ocean physics such as advection, diffusion, mixing, and thermodynamics.

HYCOM is designed to be accessible to the research community and to integrate with data assimilation workflows. The code and configurations are shared within the user community, accompanied by documentation and example setups. Model outputs are typically provided in standard formats (such as NetCDF), facilitating analysis and visualization with common tools.

Since its introduction in the early 2000s, HYCOM has become a widely used model in oceanography for academic research, climate studies, and operational forecasting. It serves a broad user base across institutions worldwide and continues to evolve through ongoing development of vertical coordinates, coupling capabilities, and data assimilation techniques.