Modeling these processes is an arduous task that requires the combined skill of many ocean scientists. Indeed, modeling of the ocean system should be looked upon as a tool for synthesizing those known key processes that play a significant role in the Ocean system as a whole. Over the past decade there has been increased activity in the use of coupled physical-biological models. As an example, the 1994 Woods Hole Program of Summer Study in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics focused on bio-physical models of oceanic population dynamics. A model is a synthesis of these observations and ideas.
Biological models fall under a wide variety of groups.
Similar problems arise in all of these models that not only continue to go unresolved but demand much of the time spent in development of a specific model. Many such systems of equations are in use today in ecosystem modeling. The focus of this talk is to see if we can achieve a better, more dynamic, technique for determining how many of these equations are actually needed and what the terms are for S for any given ecosystem. This is currently the key task of the biogeochemical modeler. The impetus for searching for a better technique is due in part to the inability of present day models to adapt to different ecosystems.