Model Computer simulation of shelf sea physics and biogeochemistry

The Model Background The original Shelf Sea Physics and Primary Production (S2P3) model was produced alongside the textbook in 2012. A new version is now available with these main changes: 1. The model now includes dissolved oxygen as a state variable, responding to air-sea gas flux, phytoplankton photosynthesis and respiration, remineralisation of organic detritus, and vertical mixing. 2. Meteorological forcing is now hourly, rather than daily. This was done to take advantage of the ERA5 meteorological data available from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting. 3. The Help information has been updated, and now works with current versions of Windows. The model simulates the vertical structure of a shelf sea influenced by seasonal heating/cooling, tidal currents and winds. The physics in the model drives a simple primary production model, illustrating how phytoplankton growth responds to changes in stratification and mixing. Related papers Research that I have been involved in that has utilised this model (or earlier versions) is published in: Sharples, J., and P. Tett, 1994. Modelling observations of the seasonal cycle of primary productivity: the importance of short-term physical variability. Journal of Marine Research 52, 219-238. Sharples, J., O. N. Ross, B. E. Scott, S. P. R. Greenstreet, and H. Fraser, 2006. Inter-annual variability in the timing of stratification and the spring bloom in the North-western North Sea. Continental Shelf Research, 26, 733-751. Sharples, J. 2008. Potential impacts of the spring-neap tidal cycle on shelf sea primary production. Journal of Plankton Research, 30(2), 183-197. Bissinger, J. E., D. J. S. Montagnes, J. Sharples, & D. Atkinson 2008. Predicting marine phytoplankton maximum growth rates from temperature: Improving on the Eppley curve using quantile regression. Limnology & Oceanography, 53, 487-493 Using the model: The model is run from a Windows GUI, with all driving parameters controlled by the user. Download a zipped file of the model and associated documentation here. This version of the model is 7.2b: the latest as on 15th July 2025. Two meteorological data files can also be accessed for the years 2014 and 2015 which is when the main UK Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry cruise and mooring programme took place. The original version of the model is available here. Unzip the files into a dedicated directory on your pc hard drive (e.g. c:\s2p3\) and away you go.