Marine

Model Success for Oceanographers

March 18, 2016 by Marine Directorate Communications No Comments | Category Collaborations, Compliance, Marine Directorate general, Marine Directorate Science, Oceanography

The Scottish Government has funded a new hydrodynamic model, called the Scottish Shelf Model (SSM), developed under the direction of Marine Scotland scientists, to describe the physical marine environment around our firths and sea lochs at the coast, up to the edge of the continental shelf and into the North Sea.

Hydrodynamic models are computer programs that simulate the currents, temperature, salinity and other properties of our seas and are an essential tool for studying our oceans.

The SSM has  applications in fisheries, aquaculture, renewable energy, emergency response, marine planning, ecology and conservation. It will be of particular interest to socio-economic sectors, such as aquaculture and marine renewable energy, where a high spatial resolution is required to adequately understand the complex physical processes in their regions of interest.

Developed over three years, the SSM has a vast array of potential applications to all areas of marine science and can give a detailed spatial picture of the water properties, which would be unobtainable from observations alone.
So far, the model has been used to provide tidal energy resource maps (such as that shown below), wave resource maps around Orkney, and to study the connectivity of fish farm management areas. However, work is currently underway to use the SSM to model the effect of tidal turbines on the physical marine environment.

Project Manager Tracy McCollin commented: “The project team has gone through a very interesting, challenging and technical process to deliver the Scottish Shelf Model and we are all looking forward to seeing it contribute to a wide range of uses. This is a very powerful tool and will play an important role in the further development of marine science in Scotland. ”

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Further Information:

Partners in the Scottish Shelf Model are:

• The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) – Liverpool
• CH2M (engineering and project management company)
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)

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