Modelling oceanographic connectivity of Arctic organisms

This project will provide information about the connectivity of Arctic marine organisms to the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment Working Group, PAME, at the Arctic Council. The results will further develop PAME´s toolbox for designing Marine Protected Areas, MPAs.

The core work is to use biophysical modeling to estimate dispersal of marine invertebrates and fish in the Arctic Ocean. Ocean circulation models provide data on ocean currents, which drive particle tracking simulations. Several combinations of spawning time, larval drift duration and drift depth are simulated and summarized into connectivity matrices.

Connectivity matrices form the basis for analyses of dispersal distance, dispersal barriers and optimal network design of Marine Protected Areas.