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.