Table of Contents

• Dataset Description
• Data Files
• Parameters
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Program Information
• Funding

Connectivity among ten key Calanus finmarchicus population sites in the North Atlantic at t=10 years is modeled.

The model is explained in the 2012 annual report and related to the image shown in the data.

Our overall goal for this Collaborative project is to understand the processes that regulate the large-scale distribution and abundance of Calanus finmarchicus, a keystone species of the North Atlantic ecosystem. We hypothesize that three main population centers in the North Atlantic are quasi-distinct and self-sustaining. This hypothesis will be tested with combined physical-biological modeling and genetic analysis of C. finmarchicus populations. Our modeling approach is to assimilate observations of C. finmarchicus from the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) into the North Atlantic Regional Ocean Modeling System using the adjoint method.

The first phase of the project will be to investigate the mean seasonal cycle based on monthly mean CPR data together with the climatological mean circulation. The inverse model solution will be diagnosed to quantify the interconnectivity between the three population centers. Molecular population genetic analysis will yield independent estimates of the rates of exchange between the gyres, which will be compared with model predictions. This assessment of the climatological mean seasonal cycle will set the stage for a study of interannual variability, with particular emphasis on changes in the mean state of the system in association with the North Atlantic Oscillation.

U.S. GLOBEC (GLOBal ocean ECosystems dynamics) is a research program organized by oceanographers and fisheries scientists to address the question of how global climate change may affect the abundance and production of animals in the sea.

The U.S. GLOBEC Program currently had major research efforts underway in the Georges Bank / Northwest Atlantic Region, and the Northeast Pacific (with components in the California Current and in the Coastal Gulf of Alaska). U.S. GLOBEC was a major contributor to International GLOBEC efforts in the Southern Ocean and Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP).