Articles | Volume 13, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4663-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4663-2020
Model description paper
 | 
02 Oct 2020
Model description paper |  | 02 Oct 2020

Optimality-based non-Redfield plankton–ecosystem model (OPEM v1.1) in UVic-ESCM 2.9 – Part 1: Implementation and model behaviour

Markus Pahlow, Chia-Te Chien, Lionel A. Arteaga, and Andreas Oschlies

Model code and software

UVic-updates-opem: Optimality-based Plankton Ecosystem Model (OPEM v1.0) for the UVic-ESCM Markus Pahlow https://doi.org/10.3289/SW_1_2020

Short summary
The stoichiometry of marine biotic processes is important for the regulation of atmospheric CO2 and hence the global climate. We replace a simplistic, fixed-stoichiometry plankton module in an Earth system model with an optimal-regulation model with variable stoichiometry. Our model compares better to the observed carbon transfer from the surface to depth and surface nutrient distributions. This work could aid our ability to describe and project the role of marine ecosystems in the Earth system.