NEMURO—a lower trophic level model for the North Pacific marine ecosystem

Abstract

The PICES CCCC (North Pacific Marine Science Organization, ClimateChange and Carrying Capacity program) MODEL Task Team achieved a consensus on the structure of a prototype lower trophic level ecosystem model for the North Pacific Ocean, and named it the North Pacific Ecosystem Model for Understanding Regional Oceanography, "NEMURO". Through an extensive dialog between modelers, plankton biologists and oceanographers, an extensive review was conducted to define NEMURO's process equations and their parameter values for distinct geographic regions. We present in this paper the formulation, structure and governing equations of NEMURO as well as examples to illustrate its behavior. NEMURO has eleven state variables: nitrate, ammonium, small and large phytoplankton biomass, small, large and predatory zooplankton biomass, particulate and dissolved organic nitrogen, particulate silica, and silicic acid concentration. Several applications reported in this issue of Ecological Modelling have successfully used NEMURO, and an extension that includes fish as an additional state variable. Applications include studies of the biogeochemistry of the North Pacific, and variations of its ecosystem's lower trophic levels and two target fish species at regional and basin-scale levels, and on time scales from seasonal to interdecadal.5

Net primary productivity estimates and environmental variables in the Arctic Ocean: An assessment of coupled physical-biogeochemical models

“…It is adopted from the Pan-arctic Ice/Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) [Zhang and Rothrock, 2003] and capable of assimilating satellite observations of sea ice concentration [Lindsay and Zhang, 2006] and sea surface temperature [Manda et al, 2005;Schweiger et al, 2011]. The pelagic biological model is an 11 component marine pelagic ecosystem model, including two phytoplankton components (diatoms and flagellates), three zooplankton components (microzooplankton, copepods, and predatory zooplankton), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), detrital particulate organic nitrogen (PON), particulate organic Si, NO 3 , NH 4 , and SiO 4 (see Figure 3 in Zhang et al [2014]; also see Kishi et al [2007]). Values for key biological parameters used in the model are listed in Zhang et al [2010a].…”

Environmental conditions impacting juvenile Chinook salmon growth off central California: An ecosystem model analysis

“…The biogeochemical submodel is based on the 11 component North Pacific Ecosystem Model for Understanding Regional Oceanography (NEMURO) model [Kishi et al, 2007], and specifically parameterized for the CCS region . NEMURO includes three limiting macronutrients (nitrate, ammonium, and silicic acid), two phytoplankton groups (nanophytoplankton and diatoms), three zooplankton groups (microzooplankton, mesozooplankton, and krill), and three detritus pools (dissolved and particulate organic nitrogen and particulate silica).…”

Ecosystem model-based approach for modeling the dynamics of <sup>137</sup>Cs transfer to marine plankton populations: application to the western North Pacific Ocean after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident

“…To properly represent the dynamics of the plankton populations exposed to the radioactive contamination in our study area, the NEMURO (North-Pacific Ecosystem Model for Understanding Regional Oceanography) biogeochemical model (Kishi et al, 2007) was applied. This model, which has been extensively used in the western North Pacific region (Aita et al, 2003;Hashioka and Yamanaka, 2007;Komatsu et al, 2007), consists of 11 state variables with two size classes of phytoplankton: small phytoplankton (PS) representing small species such as coccolithophorids and flagellates, and large phytoplankton (PL) representing diatoms.…”

“…This model was applied to study 137 Cs transfer to plankton populations in the western North Pacific after the FNPP accident and to compare it with the pre-accident steady-state situation. The NEMURO ecosystem model (Kishi et al, 2007) was used to simulate the planktonic population dynamics in the area and to estimate different ecological fluxes. It was coupled to the hydrodynamic SYMPHONIE model (Marsaleix et al, 2008) in order to account for the impact of hydrodynamic and hydrologic conditions on the dynamics of organic and inorganic materials.…”