U.S. interdisciplinary modeling studies of coastal-offshore exchange processes: Past and future

Abstract Within the past decade there have been several multidisciplinary research programs designed study interactions among physical, biological and chemical processes in U.S. continental shelf waters. The data sets resulting from these oceanographic studies have provided a basis for the formulation of interdisciplinary models. This overview focuses on those models that investigate the transport of biogenic material between estuarine, nearshore, shelf, slope and oceanic regimes. We summarize the physical mechanisms controlling fluxes of nutrients and plankton between the continental margin and the open ocean. Finally, we discuss how physical-biological modeling coastal-offshore exchange processes can contribute to global biogeochemical studies that are planned for the coming decade.

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