U.S. GLOBEC: Importance of Physical and Biological Processes to Population
Regulation of Cod and Haddock on Georges Bank: a Model-Based Study
D. Lynch, F. Werner, J. Loder, M. Sinclair, G. Lough, I. Perry, D. Greenberg,
F. Page, P. Smith, C. Naimie, C. Hannah, C. Meise
Dartmouth College
Univ. of North Carolina
National Marine Fisheries Service
Department of Fisheries and Oceans
This is a continuation of a site-specific biophysical modeling study
of Georges Bank and the adjacent shelf. It concentrates on
increased sophistication and realism in circulation and transport
modeling for Georges Bank and the adjacent shelf areas, using the
Dartmouth finite element models; on individual-based models of
larval fish early life stages, incorporating several advances in the
representation of the role of turbulence, stratification, and
feeding; and on retrospective studies on shelf-wide and
interannual/decadal scales of hydrography, circulation, and
abundance/distribution of the target species. Comprehensive
studies, including data assimilation, will be focussed on simulating
and interpreting physical and biological conditions on the Bank
during GLOBEC field years and during the MARMAP decade. Analysis of
historical zooplankton distributions and individual-based
zooplankton modeling will address the relative importance of the
Gulf of Maine and Scotian Shelf as sources of Georges Bank
populations. A moored field component is included to measure the
key inflows to the Georges Bank/Gulf of Maine system. This project
will be closely coordinated with proposed Canada GLOBEC studies on
the Scotian Shelf and Pacific coast, including inter-regional
comparisons and cooperation in methodological advances.