Trajectories
(^) The most effective presentation of the interaction of development with flow is by
animation, showing movement over a map of individuals initially spread across an
interesting subregion, such as Wilkinson Basin in the Gulf of Maine. Life stage is
shown by changing the color of dots locating each individual in the cohort. Such
animations are available on the worldwide web at: http://www-
nml.dartmouth.edu/Publications/internal_reports/NML-98-7/. Models of this type
have been constructed to study the life history and spatial dynamics of species from
clam larvae to euphausiids in a variety of flow regimes. For example, there are
informative models of the effects of diel vertical migrations on advective population
transfers (e.g. Batchelder et al. 2002).
Overview
(^) Many observationalists among oceanographers have long doubted the value of
modeling, and they often remain uncomfortable around modelers. Modelers tend to
rip into papers about observations, tear out just the numbers useful to them – perhaps
the mean of wildly varying estimates – and then rush on to the next paper. On the
other hand, modeling enforces a reading style that cuts through extraneous detail,
exposing the tiny useful nuggets that are all many papers really offer. Modeling