Model-based assimilation methods for spatially-resolved zooplankton data

This project aims to develop a generically applicable, model-based
data assimilation methodology for marine zooplankton populations. It
will use North Atlantic hydrodynamic model output and an extensive
database of Calanus finmarchicus stage abundances in the N E Atlantic
as the vehicle for development. The methodology will invovle
application of computational optimisation techniques to a novel
biophysical model structure in order to fit spatially resolved
stage-structured data and derive the spatial and temporal patterns of
key unobservable rate parameters such as mortality. As an added
benefit, C. finmarchicus has been identified as a climate change
indicator species and the project will help to elucidate the
connections between Calanus and climate.