Abstract
Abstract. The European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM) is one of the most established ecosystem models for the lower trophic levels of the marine food web in the scientific literature. Since its original development in the early nineties it has evolved significantly from a coastal ecosystem model for the North Sea to a generic tool for ecosystem simulations from shelf seas to the global ocean. The current model release contains all essential elements for the pelagic and benthic parts of the marine ecosystem, including the microbial food web, the carbonate system, and calcification. Its distribution is accompanied by a testing framework enabling the analysis of individual parts of the model. Here we provide a detailed mathematical description of all ERSEM components along with case studies of mesocosm-type simulations, water column implementations, and a brief example of a full-scale application for the north-western European shelf. Validation against in situ data demonstrates the capability of the model to represent the marine ecosystem in contrasting environments.
Highlights
Over the last 2 decades a number of marine ecosystem models describing ocean biogeochemistry and the lower trophic levels of the food web have emerged in a variety of contexts ranging from simulations of batch cultures or mesocosms over estuarine and coastal systems to the global ocean (e.g. Fasham et al, 1990; Flynn, 2010; Geider et al, 1997; Wild-Allen et al, 2010; Zavatarelli and Pinardi, 2003; Aumont et al, 2003; Follows et al, 2007; Yool et al, 2013; Stock et al, 2014)
We present a model for ocean biogeochemistry and the planktonic and benthic parts of the marine ecosystem that includes explicitly the cycles of the major chemical elements of the ocean; it includes the microbial food web, a sub-module for the carbonate system, calcification, and a full benthic model
When indicating a specific class or type, they are denoted by upper-case letters (P : phytoplankton; Z: zooplankton; B: bacteria; R: organic matter; O: gases; N : nutrients), with the chemical component in the subscript in blackboard style (C: carbon; N: nitrogen; P: phosphorus; S: silicon; F: iron; with the exception of the chlorophyll a components; which are distinguished by using C, as chlorophyll a is not a chemical element but a compound), and the dia specific type in the superscript, e.g. PC for diatom carbon
Summary
Over the last 2 decades a number of marine ecosystem models describing ocean biogeochemistry and the lower trophic levels of the food web have emerged in a variety of contexts ranging from simulations of batch cultures or mesocosms over estuarine and coastal systems to the global ocean (e.g. Fasham et al, 1990; Flynn, 2010; Geider et al, 1997; Wild-Allen et al, 2010; Zavatarelli and Pinardi, 2003; Aumont et al, 2003; Follows et al, 2007; Yool et al, 2013; Stock et al, 2014). While it was originally created as a scientific tool for the North Sea ecosystem ( the name), it has since evolved considerably in its scientific content, broadening the scope of the model to coastal systems across the globe as well as the open ocean. Our main objective with this paper is to provide a full description of all model components, accompanied by simple case studies with low resource requirements that illustrate the model capabilities and enable the interested reader to implement our model and reproduce the test cases shown For this purpose we present the examples of a mesocosm-type framework and three vertical water-column implementations of opposing character complemented with basic validation metrics against in situ observations. We complete the work with a section on optional choices of model configuration and a section on the technical specifications of the software package, licence, and instructions on where and how to access the model code
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