This is a 2nd J-SCOPE post

The bright blue and green swirls that the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) detected off the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, were made by millions of tiny ocean plants called phytoplankton. The coastal waters of the Eastern Pacific are productive because wind and ocean currents allow nutrient-rich water from deep in the ocean to rise to the surface. The cold rising water carries phosphates and nitrates, which act as fertilizer to the phytoplankton that grow in the sunlit waters at the ocean’s surface. Since phytoplankton are the base of the food chain, areas that support large phytoplankton blooms tend to have large fish populations. Off the coast of Vancouver Island and Washington State, phytoplankton blooms tend to happen when winds blow down the coast from the north. The winds push the ocean’s surface water west, out to sea. Deep water rises up to replace the wind-blown surface water, and it carries the nutrients needed to support phytoplankton blooms. The Moderate Resolution Im

A school of Pacific herring swims through clear waters surrounding the Channel Islands, California. ca. 1990s Channel Islands, California, USA

Testing to see whether all posts in ‘J-SCOPE‘ category appear when righthand sidebar ‘J-SCOPE’ category is selected. Just for fun, I’m going to make this a gallery post.

What is J-SCOPE anyway…?

JISAO Seasonal Coastal Ocean Prediction of the Ecosystem, or J-SCOPE, is an important part of this cruise….

The J-SCOPE forecasts are developed to support the California Current Integrated Ecosystem Assessment. Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (IEAs) are a framework for informing ecosystem-based management, which aims to take into account interactions among ecosystem components and managed sectors, as well as cumulative impacts of a wide spectrum of ocean-use sectors (Rosenberg and McLeod 2005). IEAs are a synthesis and quantitative analysis of information on relevant natural and socioeconomic factors, in relation to ecosystem management objectives (Levin et al. 2009).

In the context of the California Current IEA, JSCOPE provides short term (six to nine month) forecasts of ocean condition that are testable and relevant to management decisions for fisheries, protected species and ecosystem health. Results will directly inform the IEA process, and will forecast indicators requested by the Pacific Fishery Management Council.