Contact Information
Institute of Marine Science107 O'Neill
P.O. Box 757220
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220
Phone: (907) 474-5963
george@ims.uaf.edu
Georgina Gibson Post Doctoral Research Fellow
Education
- Ph.D. 2004 University of Alaska Fairbanks (Oceanography)
Research Overview
My appointment with the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) is through the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center (ARSC) and the School of Fisheries and Ocean Science (SFOS). I work under the directive of Mark Johnson. The overarching objective of my research is to develop and enhance the biological component of a (ROMS) model to improve our understanding of ecosystem and fisheries dynamics.In line with AOOS goals I aim to produce computer simulation models that will improve our ability to rapidly detect changes in marine ecosystems and predict future change. The hope is that such products would enable sustainable fisheries management.
Current Research Projects
- Bering Sea Ecosystem Modelling (ARSC)
The Bering Sea pollock fishery is the largest single species fishery in the world providing a substantial proportion of the annual fish catch of the United States. It has been observed that there is a change in recruitment of juveniles to the pollock fishery in the South East Bering Sea depending on whether it is a 'cold' year or a 'warm' year. A number of alternate hypothesis have been proposed to explain this observed inter-annual variability. The leading contenders are the Oscillating Control Hypothesis (Hunt et. al., 2002), the Larval Transport Hypothesis (Wespestad et al. 2000), the Cold Pool Hypothesis (Wyllie-Echeverria and Wooster, 1998), and the mixed layer dynamics hypothesis (Mueter et al., 2006). For my Postdoctoral research I am working towards the development of a three-dimensional ecosystem model in conjunction with Kate Headstrum (ARSC) and Al Hermann (PMEL) who are developing the physical portion of the Bering Sea ROMS model. The purpose of model development will be to enhance our understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics in the South East Bering Sea in an effort to address the above hypothesis and enhance our understanding of the mechanistic processes controlling pollock recruitment, and therefore, the health of Bering Sea pollock stocks. My eventual goal is to couple a three-dimensional NPZ model to an Individual Based Model of Bering Sea Pollock. The NPZ model will, therefore, include prey fields thought to be important for larval and juvenile pollock.
Selected Publications
Gibson, G.A., Musgrave, D. L. and Hinckley, S. (2005) Non-linear dynamicsof a pelagic ecosystem model with multiple predator and prey types. Journal of Plankton Research 27(5):427-447. View PDF