9711481 Allen Research will be conducted under the auspices of the Coastal Ocean Processes Program (CoOP). A modeling study will be undertaken of the physical circulation and ecosystem dynamics on the Oregon continental shelf and slope. The objective of this research project is to understand and be able to model physical oceanographic circulation processes and accompanying ecosystem dynamics in the wind-forced continental shelf flow fields off the U.S. northwest Pacific coast. Objectives include the application of high resolution numerical circulation and ecosystem models to both process studies and to direct simulations of continental shelf and slope flow fields for investigation of the physical and biological mechanisms involved in wind-forced across-shelf transport processes. It is intended that this study will prepare for future Coastal Ocean Processes (CoOP) program field experiments with application of a high-resolution, limited-area, regional shelf circulation and ecosystem model. That model would be used to help understand the physical and biological processes in the observed flow fields by providing interpolation or extrapolation of necessarily incomplete measurements and by enabling directly relevant process studies.
