Keywords
gis, particle tracking, environmental modelling, fisheries
Start Date
1-7-2012 12:00 AM
Abstract
Models provide a way to understand the complex interactions of biological and physical process. As an example, the movement of dust plumes generated on continents over the adjoining oceans can be modeled for both the physical process of particle transport and for the geochemical effects of the dust deposition on life in the oceans. Models can also describe and link two physical processes; a model can be used to simulate the complex 3-dimensional movement of ocean currents and these model results can be linked to models that predict the movement of many waterborne objects such as fish and larvae, oil from seeps or accidental spills, and marine debris.One of the more common uses of particle tracking models is to study the dispersion of the larvae of marine fishes. Many marine fishes spawn in areas where their larvae are subject to dispersion due to currents after hatching. This dispersion can affect both their survival and their growth. The motion of particles, or organisms too small to swim, can be calculated by using a combination of general circulation models and particle tracking models to describe the physics and biology of the particles being studied. A GIS can be used to set up the parameters for a model run and also to display the results.LarvaMap uses a map based display for set up and also is tightly linked to ArcGIS for analysis of the output. The GIS can be used to integrate the particle tracking model output with in situ measurements of oceanographic and environmental parameters. LarvaMap can use both traditional local computing resources and can be deployed on the Amazon cloud to test the speed and costs of cloud deployment. The transition from a local to a cloud deployment is relatively simple and the performance improvements can be considerable.
Particles in the Cloud – running GIS-based particle tracking models for fish larval dissemination in traditional and cloud computing architectures
Models provide a way to understand the complex interactions of biological and physical process. As an example, the movement of dust plumes generated on continents over the adjoining oceans can be modeled for both the physical process of particle transport and for the geochemical effects of the dust deposition on life in the oceans. Models can also describe and link two physical processes; a model can be used to simulate the complex 3-dimensional movement of ocean currents and these model results can be linked to models that predict the movement of many waterborne objects such as fish and larvae, oil from seeps or accidental spills, and marine debris.One of the more common uses of particle tracking models is to study the dispersion of the larvae of marine fishes. Many marine fishes spawn in areas where their larvae are subject to dispersion due to currents after hatching. This dispersion can affect both their survival and their growth. The motion of particles, or organisms too small to swim, can be calculated by using a combination of general circulation models and particle tracking models to describe the physics and biology of the particles being studied. A GIS can be used to set up the parameters for a model run and also to display the results.LarvaMap uses a map based display for set up and also is tightly linked to ArcGIS for analysis of the output. The GIS can be used to integrate the particle tracking model output with in situ measurements of oceanographic and environmental parameters. LarvaMap can use both traditional local computing resources and can be deployed on the Amazon cloud to test the speed and costs of cloud deployment. The transition from a local to a cloud deployment is relatively simple and the performance improvements can be considerable.
