The National Science Foundation has funded a pair of studies of the coastal ocean to be conducted jointly by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and SMAST.
A $1.5 million award to a team led by PI Anthony Kirincich (WHOI) will support the first comprehensive study of current variability in the coastal ocean at scales from hundreds of meters to tens of kilometers. This unprecedented level of detail will be made possible by a combination of dense observations made by WHOI and a computer model, developed by SMAST Prof. Changsheng Chen and collaborators, which is capable of resolving very intricate oceanic and coastal features.
The model, called the Finite Volume Community Ocean Model, will also be employed in a $600 thousand study led by WHOI PI Steve Lentz analyzing the so-called “Cold Pool,” a band of cold, nutrient-rich bottom water that extends the length of the Middle Atlantic Bight (from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras) throughout the spring and summer. Many of the migratory fish species of the region have evolved to either seek out or avoid the cold waters of this bottom feature, and growing concerns about the impact of global climate change on the ecosystem, especially fisheries, adds urgency to the investigation.