Abstract:

A newly-developed irradiance module is included in the Connectivity Modeling System (CMS), an open-source Lagrangian, particle-tracking framework, to compute the doses of UV-A and UV-B virtual embryos received throughout their transport in the ocean. The module implements laboratory results of changes in specific gravity experienced by yellowfin tuna embryos in the Gulf of Mexico under varying UV treatment. Virtual embryos were released throughout the Gulf of Mexico, every three days, from January 1st to December 28th in 2010 and 2013, from the surface to 99 m depth, and were tracked for 24 hours. This dataset contains the trajectories and instantaneous exposure to radiation for the different responses of yellowfin tuna embryos. It provides the position (longitude, latitude, and depth) along with the doses of ultraviolet-A and ultraviolet-B for each virtual embryo along its pathway in the ocean. Related dataset with similar information for mahi-mahi embryos is located under GRIIDC Unique Dataset Identifier (UDI) R6.x804.000:0001 (doi:10.7266/n7-vg4a-0896).

Suggested Citation:

Faillettaz, Robin, Christina Pasparakis, Ana C. Vaz, Martin Grosell, and Claire B. Paris. 2021. Yellowfin tuna embryos trajectories with exposure to solar irradiance, modeled in Connectivity Modeling System (CMS) between 2010-01-01 and 2013-12-29. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/S83DZF9V

Purpose:

The simulations are based on empirical observations of changes in specific gravity throughout the development of yellowfin tuna embryos. This dataset provides the average exposure to ultraviolet radiation that yellowfin tuna embryos receive in the natural environment. Comparison of the differences in the dose of light received among month, seasons, and years will enable understanding of the role such radiation plays in the survival of early life stages, through direct mortality due to photo-oxidation or DNA damage, and their hatching environment since the exposure to ultraviolet increases their specific gravity, which causes photo-exposed embryos to sink earlier and hatch deeper in the water column.

Data Parameters and Units:

Simulation (number, “UV-exposed”/”no UV”), lon (longitude W, [decimal degrees]), lat (latitude N [decimal degrees[), releaseDate [YYYY-MM-DD], time.since.start.s (elapsed time, [seconds]), depth.start.m (initial depth [m]), ID (unique to each embryo), depth.m (depth at current time step, [m]), uva.w.m2 (Ultraviolet-A exposure since previous time step [W/m^2]), uvab.w.m2 (Ultraviolet-B exposure since previous time step, [W/m^2]).

Methods:

The dataset has been generated with the Lagrangian, particle-tracking model CMS, as described in the dataset R6.x804.000:0001. In the model, each virtual embryos is assigned a specific gravity based on the matrix defined by the empirical observations conducted in the laboratory. Embryos move in three dimensions due to advection by the ocean circulation, their biological characteristics (diameter and specific gravity), and the natural horizontal and vertical turbulence. The ocean circulation fields were generated from a re-analysis of the HYCOM + NCODA Gulf of Mexico 1/25° Analysis for both 2010 and 2013. They have an hourly resolution and a 1/25° spatial resolution. The irradiance data were obtained from the NOGAPS model for the year 2010 and from the NAVGEM model in 2013 (the updated version of the NOGAPS). Both initially had a 3-h temporal resolution and were re-interpolated with an hourly resolution to match with the ocean circulation models.

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