Simulating vertical turbulent dispersal with finite volumes and binned random walks
Journal article, Peer reviewed
Date
2007-10-11Metadata
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Original version
10.3354/meps06975Abstract
Early life stages in fish are often modeled by individual-based models. The transport of
individuals with ocean currents is addressed through particle-tracking techniques, which typically
simulate vertical turbulent dispersal with random walk schemes. These schemes, however, perform
poorly when the eddy diffusivity displays steep gradients, as in stratified water columns, and near the
surface and sea floor. In the present paper, we advocate the use of a binned random walk, which
keeps track, not of the exact vertical position of a tracer particle, but only of the layer in which the
particle resides. The binned random walk is derived by discretizing the Eulerian equations governing
the vertical dispersal with the finite-volume method. The scheme is easily implemented, even
when layers are non-uniform and turbulence statistics originate from a circulation model, and, by
construction, always satisfies the well-mixed criterion. We demonstrate the scheme and discuss its
applicability.