Dataset: FVCOM
Deployment: lab_SMAST-model

The following is excerpted from the SMAST/CMAST website with permission from Dr. Chen:

"MODELING STUDIES OF THE ECOSYSTEM IN THE GULF OF MAINE/GEORGES BANK"

"The objective of our modeling exploration in the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank is to understand physical and biological interactions associated with dynamics of tidal mixing fronts, local and remote wind forcings, diurnal and seasonal heat fluxes, and low-salinity water intrusions. Our particular interests are in (1) the influences of boundary-layer dynamics and stratification on temporal and spatial variations of plankton and larval fish in tidal mixing fronts; (2) impacts of large-scale winter storms, temperature, turbulence, and food on the growth and retention of larval cod and haddock; and (3) physical mechanisms responsible for the cross-frontal transports of water masses, nutrients, and phytoplanktons.

This is a multidisciplinary project that is being conducted by collaborating with Dr. Peter Franks, Associate Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Dr. Bob Beardsley, Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. We have successfully developed a coupled physical and biological model for the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank. Physical model is a modified version of the Blumberg and Mellor primitive equation of estuary and coastal oceanic circulation model (called ECOM-si). Biological model is the 3-component nutrients (N), phytoplankton (P), and zooplankton (Z) model developed by Franks et al. (1986). Numerical experiments have been conducted for both 2-D and 3-D cases. The biological model is being updated by adding two species of phytoplankton and zooplanktons, respectively, three limiting nutrients, and detritus. This project is supported by NSF/NOAA US GLOBEC North Atlantic/Georges Bank Program."

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