Lagrangian Models and Particle Tracking
Lagrangian models play a crucial role in physical oceanography by simulating the movement of water parcels, particles, and organisms within ocean currents. Unlike Eulerian models, which describe ocean dynamics at fixed points in space, Lagrangian approaches follow individual elements as they drift, allowing for a detailed representation of transport processes such as pollutant dispersion, larval connectivity, and water mass pathways.
These models are widely used in applications ranging from oil spill tracking and plastic pollution studies to biological connectivity and sediment transport. Several computational tools have been developed to support Lagrangian simulations, including: