Dataset for: Potential connectivity among spatially distinct management zones for Bonefish (Albula vulpes) via larval dispersal

The Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) was used to simulate hydrodynamics in the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico for the period 2007 to 2017. The circulation fields drove a particle tracking simulation and quantified the transport connectivity for the study area. The model domain spans the northwest Atlantic with ~7 km horizontal grid spacing and 36 vertical layers and the bathymetry was generated using 1-min gridded GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) data and smoothed using Sikirić et al. (2009) methodology to remove large gradients that may lead to numerical pressure gradient errors for the model. The model used fourth-order centered advection using k-kl mixing coefficients (corresponding to Mellor-Yamada Level 2.5) with the generic length scale vertical mixing scheme (Warner et al. 2005). The model was configured to conserve volume with a free-surface Chapman condition (Chapman 1985), a Flather condition for 2D momentum (Flather 1976), and the Orlanski-type radiation condition (Orlanski 1976) for 3D momentum and tracers (Marchesiello et al. 2001; Zeng et al. 2015a) at its only open boundary to the east. The boundary values of ocean states were derived from the daily global Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) product. The surface forcing used in the ROMS simulation was derived from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) reanalysis product with 0.125-degree grid spacing every three hours. The model was initialized with daily HYCOM output and ran from January 1, 2007, to December 14, 2017. This dataset supports the publication: Zeng, X., Adams, A., Roffer, M., & He, R. (2018). Potential connectivity among spatially distinct management zones for Bonefish (Albula vulpes) via larval dispersal. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 102(2), 233–252. doi:https:/doi.org/10.1007/s10641-018-0826-z.