High values indicate that phytoplankton were growing on nutrients brought up from deep waters by the tidal flows. Note the patch of phytoplankton formed in the front on the northern flank of the bank, and the upwelling of nutrients at the edges of the bank. The production based on transported nutrients is high at the surface on the bank, and in the tidal fronts. This indicates that physical forcing plays an important role in maintaining the high productivity of Georges Bank. Comparison of the physical-biological model to data.
Vertical lines separate the various regions of the bank.
From left to right, these are stratified, north frontal, central bank, south frontal, stratified. Note the good agreement of the model with the data from the various regions on and around the bank. Since the model parameters were chosen independent of these field data, this gives us confidence that the model is a good representation of the processes influencing plankton production on Georges Bank. An example of the output from the larval fish model for cod. Each x represents the weight of one individual at the indicated time.