Kevin E. Kohler

Director of Computing Services
NSU Oceanographic Center
Email: "Kevin Kohler" <kevin barney nova fred edu>

The CPCe (Coral Point Count with Excel extensions) program is Windows-based software that provides a tool for the determination of coral cover using transect photographs. A specified number of spatially random points are distributed on a quadrat image, and coral species lying under these points are identified. Microsoft Excel spreadsheets can be created to further analyze the data.

Visual_HEA is a program that provides an efficient method of calculating the required compensation. The program accepts input of parameters necessary to determine long-term service loss from the injury (injured area size and degree; times of injury, functional shape, and equilibrium; post-injury recovery); parameters to determine long-term service gain from compensatory restoration actions (times of restoration beginning and equilibrium; maximum service level; service gain function shape); and general program parameters (relative value of lost and gained services, baseline level of lost and gained services, discount rate).

The Coral X-radiograph Densitometry System (CoralXDS) is a Windows-based program which provides a tool for measurement of linear extension, density, and calcification from coral X-radiographs. These quantities are determined for high-density, low-density, and annual bands. CoralXDS operates in two "modes": full mode and extension/luminance mode. Full mode measures linear extension, density, and calcification, while extension/luminance mode measures only linear extension. Extension/luminance mode requires only a coral image with scaling information. CoralXDS allows user specification of transect location and orientation on the coral image, and provides several options for automated and manual band selection. The output measurements are provided as plots and datasets.

A central problem in large-scale biogeochemical modeling is determining how well biological models can simulate observed variability in different ocean environments. Key questions are: Which model formulation s work best for a given region? How transferable are models specifically designed for one region to other regions? Answering such questions is one of the central goals of the U.S. JGOFS Synthesis and Modeling Project (SMP).

Biogeochemical models are sensitive to the physical framework in which they are imbedded. To make quantitative model intercomparisons, then, different models have to be run under the same physical conditions. For this reason few intercomparison studies have so far been carried out. To promote such studies, the U.S. JGOFS SMP has formed a working group tasked with providing 1-D "test beds," which allow investigators to run a variety of biogeochemical models in a specific physical context. This website is an exploratory effort to develop such a testbed for the central Arabian Sea at 15.5^oN, 61.5^oE, the site of the WHOI mooring. Our approach is to use environmental fields obtained from a 3-D physical model to run biogeochemical models "offline" in 1-D.

In the following, we first describe the physical fields available at the website, providing both required and optional fields as downloadable files. These fields are obtained from the layer model described in McCreary et al. (2000). Then, we discuss two examples of 1-D biological models (both a layer and a level system), which illustrate how to use the physical fields. Finally, we provide available observational data for model validation. We hope to expand the website in the future, including environmental fields from other physical models, examples of other biological models, and additional data.