Program in a Nutshell
Goal: To understand the effects of climate variability and climate change on the distribution, abundance and production of marine animals (including commercially important living marine resources) in the eastern North Pacific. To embody this understanding in diagnostic and prognostic ecosystem models, capable of capturing the ecosystem response to major climatic fluctuations.
Approach: To study the effects of past and present climate variability on the population ecology and population dynamics of marine biota and living marine resources, and to use this information as a proxy for how the ecosystems of the eastern North Pacific may respond to future global climate change. The strong temporal variability in the physical and biological signals of the NEP will be used to examine the biophysical mechanisms through which zooplankton and salmon populations respond to physical forcing and biological interactions in the coastal regions of the two gyres. Annual and interannual variability will be studied directly through long-term observations and detailed process studies; variability at longer time scales will be examined through retrospective analysis of directly measured and proxy data. Coupled biophysical models of the ecosystems of these regions will be developed and tested using the process studies and data collected from the long-term observation programs, then further tested and improved by hindcasting selected retrospective data series.
Lead Principal Investigator: Hal Batchelder
Oregon State University (OSU-CEOAS)
Data Manager: Hal Batchelder
Oregon State University (OSU-CEOAS)
BCO-DMO Data Manager: Ms Dicky Allison
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI BCO-DMO)
BCO-DMO Data Manager: Nancy Copley
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI BCO-DMO)
BCO-DMO Data Manager: Robert C. Groman
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI BCO-DMO)