Ocean Circulation
TunaScape uses the ECCO-Darwin Global Model of Plankton Dynamics developed by MIT and running on the NASA Pleiades supercomputer to model ocean currents as well as T, S, PO4, Fe, O2, PhytoC & Chl.
This model is now incorporated successfully and is completing a 10-year time series, generating over 10 terabytes of simulation data.
This simulation data is then merged with the TunaScape model to provide 3-D displays, graphs, and analytical data to help researchers and Fisheries managers understand and predict the activities of the three species of tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Although the ECCO-Darwin model has proved to be the best tool for this study, System Science Applications has incorporated other models for different studies, and the software is capable of using various circulation models.