A 0.1-degree, 40 vertical level North Atlantic configuration of the Los Alamos 
National Laboratory Parallel Ocean Program (POP) model, forced with 1993-1997 
Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS) daily wind 
stresses, is used to address the feasibility of using POP in a future global 
predictive system. Quantitative model evaluations using data that capture 
high-frequency (several days to several months) and shorter-scale (10-1000 km) 
ocean processes are needed to assess model performance. The model's surface 
circulation is evaluated by calculating Eulerian and Lagrangian statistics from 
North Atlantic World Ocean Circulation Experiment surface drifter data and 
co-located model velocities. Since these runs are very computationally 
intensive, the importance of model resolution is investigated by comparing a 
third set of statistics obtained from a coarser resolution (0.28-degree, 20 
levels) POP simulation.

The Eulerian comparisons show that the mean and variability of the higher 
resolution run are very realistic while in the coarser resolution model features 
are inaccurate in places and energy levels are significantly under-represented. 
Numerical trajectories are computed from the model velocity fields using a 
fourth-order Runge-Kutta scheme. From these and the observed trajectories 
diffusivites and Lagrangian time scales are calculated and compared. The time 
scales from the higher resolution simulation are not statistically different 
from the observed scales, while those from the coarser resolution run are 
generally too long. In all, the 0.28-degree simulation is too viscous and has 
too much ``memory'', while the 0.1-degree run more faithfully reproduces the 
observed surface circulation.