The Application of a Real-Time Biophysical Model of Photoplankton Photoacclimation in the Upper Ocean at Sea

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A combined biophysical model developed by the principal investigators based on the photoacclimation model of Denman and Marra (1986) and the physical model of Price et al. (1986) will be taken to sea to run in real-time mode with the ambient physical forcing input to the model. The real-time application will provide a continuous view of the predicted water column while at sea, so that physical and biological (especially photoacclimation state and photosynthetic rate) samples can be collected at the appropriate depths to directly test model accuracy. One version of the model will be initialized with preliminary measurements of the required characteristics of the ambient environment using a variety of physical sensors as well as a specially designed biological sensor. A second version will be re-initialized physically every tow hours to ensure a more precise prediction of the instantaneous state of the water column. Validation data will include mixed layer depth and depth profiles rate. After the cruise, model refinements will be developed based on subsequent reruns of the model with recorded forcing to improve fits to the validation data by considering changes in both model formulation and parameterization. The eventual goal is to use the validated biophysical model as a tool to guide future field applications of the developing photoacclimation technology and theory.