Gulf of Maine Alexandrium fundyense Model Results – 2007

Ruoying He¹, Dennis McGillicuddy², Don Anderson², Bruce Keafer²

¹North Carolina State University
²Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Disclaimer: these simulations are for experimental purposes only.

Results here represent model solutions initiated from a cyst abundance map from late 2006, with germination, growth, and transport of Alexandrium fundyense cells driven by the factors listed below. 

Physical circulation model

Multiple nested ROMS, ca. ~1km resolution in GOM

Tides (M2, S2, N2, K2, K1, O1, Q1)

6-hourly wind and heat fluxes from NCEP NOMAD (12-km resolution)

River runoff data from USGS

Sea surface temperature from satellites

Initial conditions and open boundary conditions from large-scale parent model (HYCOM)

Alexandrium fundyense model

Population dynamics from Stock et al. 2005; McGillicuddy et al. 2005; He et al. (to be submitted)

Cyst map from Fall 2006 Survey

Solar radiation from NCEP NOMAD

Climatological nutrient fields from BIO (Petrie et al., 2000)

The mortality rate of A. fundyense is now parameterized using the temperature dependent Q₁₀ formulation (Durbin and Durbin, 1992)

Modeled A. fundyense bloom

An animation showing surface wind fields and modeled bloom conditions from March 15, to Aug 2, 2007

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Last update: July 31, 2007