Applications

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Within the Chesapeake Bay Region

Larval Survival

Crassostrea ariakensis in the larval stage is susceptible to changes in water temperature and salinity. The C3PO physical oceanographic model utilized by CBOLT models these parameters using in situ observations from buoys and sensors within Chesapeake Bay. Temperature and salinity values for each location along the predicted oyster larvae tracks are written to the corresponding attribute tables. CBOLT gives users the ability to define temperature and salinity thresholds within the Results Interface, then symbolizes the output tracks based on anticipated larvae survival.

Identification of Source Areas

Oyster larvae prefer to settle and thrive in areas where oysters already exist. Users can reference the historic locations of shellfish beds provided within CBOLT to select a preferred settling location. They can then choose to run the CBOLT particle tracking model in reverse to identify the best locations for larval dispersal.

Proximity-Based Analysis

In addition to the presence of existing or historic oyster bed locations, there are other factors that contribute to favorable habitat conditions for oyster larvae, such as bottom type and depth. Users can take advantage of buffer and selection tools to analyze the spatial relationships between larval position and these provided ancillary datasets for the Chesapeake Bay. This information, in turn, can be used to determine if areas of favorable settlement exist at, or within a distance of, the endpoint of a model run.

In Other Regions

The individual components within CBOLT were designed to be ported to other regions with minor modifications. The particle tracking model within CBOLT can accept the output of physical oceanographic models from other regions, so long as they exist in a NetCDF format. In addition, the behavior of the particles tracked by this model can be modified to replicate that of other natural and man-made phenomenon. As a result, CBOLT can be implemented in regions outside the Chesapeake Bay where the need exists for a Web-enabled particle tracking model. Some potential applications include:

• Search and rescue
• Oil spills
• Tracking Other Species