An ecology simulator from ARK Dynamics UK
Have you been hunting bioluminescent Noctiluca ‘Sea Sparkle’ blooms recently?
If you have, perhaps you have been wondering why they suddenly appear and then disappear? The ecology behind it all?
Just released – the Sea Sparkle Simulator from ARK Dynamics, UK. Here you can investigate how blooms of Noctiluca scintillans develop out of sight, appear on the sea surface where they sparkle for a few nights and then vanish.
The Simulator is free to download and is now available with both English and Spanish description and model file:
What is Sea Sparkle?
Sea Sparkle is a natural phenomenon caused by dense blooms of the marine plankton Noctiluca scintillans. When disturbed by waves or movement in the water, the organisms emit a blue bioluminescent glow that can illuminate coastlines and beaches at night.
Sea Sparkle is the common name for blooms of the bioluminescent plankton Noctiluca scintillans. This free simulator from ARK Dynamics lets you explore how blooms develop below the surface, appear as glowing blue waves at night, and eventually disappear.
The simulator is built by Aditee Mitra, Kevin Flynn and Rohan Mitra-Flynn and developed using Powersim Studio. The simulator demonstrates how System Dynamics modelling can be used to understand complex ecological systems. It is freely available for educators, researchers and anyone interested in marine ecology.
Do you need a copy of Powersim Studio?
Follow this link to download Powersim Studio Cockpit, our free run-time edition:
If you have another paid edition of Powersim Studio installed already, the model will open in Presentation Mode and you need not download the Cockpit edition. Please note that if you install the Cockpit license, this will overwrite your current installed license.