Atlantis User’s Guide Part I: General Overview, Physics and Ecology

Before delving into Atlantis we would like to provide a little bit of background on the modelling framework and this manual. Atlantis is just one of many marine ecosystem models, originally known as BM2 (BoxModel 2) it was christened Atlantis by Villy Christensen in South Africa in 2001. Marine ecosystem models have existed for more than 50 years, though they have only grown in popular use since the advent of (fast) modern computing power. They have grown from a biophysical focus to include more and more of the human dimensions. This is reflected in the structure of this manual, which sequentially works through the physical then biological before getting into the human dimensions. Atlantis was originally developed with an eye to temperate marine ecosystems and fisheries, though it has grown through time.