FVCOM-ICM is a three dimensional biophysical model made up of the Finite-Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM) linked offline to the Integrated Compartment Water Quality Model (ICM). FVCOM is a prognostic, unstructured-grid, finite-volume, free-surface, 3-D primitive equation coastal ocean circulation model developed by UMASS Dartmouth and WHOI joint efforts. This model was featured in the January 2011 edition of the CCMP Newsletter.
Schematic of ICM
The ICM water quality model (also know as CE-QUAL-ICM) was initially developed as one component of a model package employed to study eutrophication processes in Chesapeake Bay. Subsequent to employment in the Bay study, the model code was generalized and it has been released for use in a wide variety of applications. ICM stands for “integrated compartment model,” which is analogous to the finite volume numerical method. The model is coded in FORTRAN and it computes constituent concentrations resulting from transport and transformations in well-mixed cells that can be arranged in arbitrary one-, two-, or three-dimensional configurations. Thus, the model employs an unstructured grid system and is designed to be run offline, i.e., forced using the output from hydrodynamic models like FVCOM. The release version of ICM computes 22 state variables including physical properties; multiple forms of algae, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica; and dissolved oxygen. ICM has been applied to a wide variety of sites, including: Chesapeake Bay, Inland Bays of Delaware, New York Bight, Newark Bay, New York – New Jersey Harbors and Estuaries, Lower Green Bay, Los Angeles – Long Beach Harbors, to name just a few.
FVCOM-ICM is the modeling system that was recently implemented in Chesapeake Bay by our featured modeler, Meng Xia, and his student Long Jiang.