Advances in Physical, Biological, and Coupled Ocean Models During the US GLOBEC Program

Abstract

From the planning days preceding the establishment of the US Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) program, modeling was recognized as one of the program's pillars. In particular, predictions of future ecosystem states in an evolving climate system required new interdisciplinary approaches that brought together physicists, biologists, modelers, and observational scientists. The GLOBEC program coincided with, took advantage of, and contributed to significant advances in ocean modeling capabilities. During the GLOBEC years, computer power increased substantially to the point where coupled physical-biological models, at resolutions where important interactions are resolved, became feasible. Ocean models were maturing so that complex coastal processes were explicitly represented, and advances in different ways of modeling the biosphere, from Lagrangian individuals to Eulerian community-based, multitrophic models, were emerging. The US GLOBEC program addressed the question: How can we use all these developments to help us understand how ecosystems will respond to climate change? This paper includes a review of state-of-the-science modeling at the onset of the GLOBEC program and highlights the evolution of physical and biological models used for the program's target regions and species throughout the GLOBEC years, 1992–2012

Keywords

• GLOBEC
• ecosystem modeling