The specific aims of Work Package 7 is to determine the requirements for setting up a pre-operational forecast system for the Mediterranean ecosystem.
The specific objectives are:

• to implement, validate and calibrate 1-D ecosystem models in data-rich regions of the Mediterranean basin
• to develop a data assimilation system for an ecosystem model which is suitable for use in an operational context
• to assess the forecast capability and predictability window of a state-of-the-art ecosystem model
• to establish the dynamic responses of models to variability in physical forcing and to indicate the appropriate temporal and spatial resolution of forcing functions
• to make recommendations for the cost-effective monitoring of those pelagic biogeochemical variables that most clearly indicate the state of the ecosystem, thus providing guidelines for the observational aspects of the second phase of the MFS.