FInite eLement Adaptive grid Modelling of Ecosystems and Nutrient Transport

浮游植物(微型植物)生长在海洋表面水域，像陆地上的植物一样，会消耗二氧化碳，二氧化碳从大气中被吸收到海洋中。浮游植物的生长依赖于阳光及其营养物质(食物)的供应。这种供应反过来又受到海洋涡流和垂直运动的影响，这些垂直运动将营养物质从海洋深处带入表层水域。在海洋的某些部分(亚热带)，这些机制是如何运作的还不是很清楚。因此，生物(生态系统)和物理(漩涡、水流、垂直运动)的计算机模型被用来帮助我们理解。不幸的是，尽管在计算方面取得了许多进展，但计算机能力的限制意味着，要对北大西洋等大片海洋进行建模，同时能够在小得多的尺度(精确到一公里或更少)内捕捉所有正在发生的事情，并不是一件容易的事情。在这个研究项目中，我们将开发一种新的模型，它可以准确地反映大小尺度上正在发生的事情。该模型将通过不断调整其执行计算的方式来工作，以便解析准确模拟海洋中任何位置的生物和物理所需的空间尺度。这将最大限度地利用可用的计算机能力。它将使我们更好地了解海洋物理学如何影响生物。这将有助于更好地理解海洋在全球碳循环中的作用，以及在气候变化中的作用。

Phytoplankton (microscopic plants) grow in the surface waters of the ocean and, like plants on land, use up carbon dioxide, which is absorbed into the ocean from the atmosphere. The growth of the phytoplankton depends on sunlight and on their supply of nutrients (food). This supply in turn is influenced by the ocean eddies and currents, and vertical motions that bring the nutrients into the surface waters from deeper in the ocean. Just how these mechanisms operate is not well understood in some parts of the ocean (the subtropics). Therefore, computer models of the biology (ecosystem) and the physics (eddies, currents, vertical motions) are used to try to help our understanding. Unfortunately, despite many advances in computing, limitations on computer power mean that it is not easy to model large areas of the ocean, such as the North Atlantic, while at the same time being able to capture all that is happening at much smaller scales (down to one kilometre or less). In this research project we will develop a new model that can represent what is happening accurately at both the large and small scales. The model will work by continuously adapting how it carries out calculations, in order to resolve the spatial scales required to accurately simulate the biology and physics at any location in the ocean. This will make best use of the available computer power. It will allow us to develop a better understanding of how the ocean physics affects the biology. This will contribute to a better understanding of the part the oceans play in the global carbon cycle and so in climate change.