index.md

[Biogeochemical Models](@id bgc_models)

Biogeochemical (BGC) models can be used within the Oceananigans biogeochemistry framework or as stand alone box models. All BGC models should be setup in the same way so that they can easily be substituted for each other. You can easily implement a different model (or a variation on a current model) by following the guide [here](@ref model_implementation).

For details of the BGC models currently implemented please see the following pages.

Oceananigans setup

At the simplest level, all that is required to setup an existing OceanBioME BGC model is to pass it to the Oceananigans model setup:

model = NonhydrostaticModel(; grid,
                              ...,
                              biogeochemistry = MODEL_NAME(; grid))

where MODEL_NAME is the name of the model. You may also need to pass additional parameters like:

MODEL_NAME(; grid, growth_rate = 10.0)

The above will set up the required tracers and auxiliary fields, and you may also set boundary conditions or additional forcing through the usual Oceananigans setup.

Models usually have a default [light attenuation model](@ref light) specified, these may be substituted easily by passing different models as parameters as above.

Our models are implemented in an abstract framework Biogeochemistry which contains underlying_biogeochemistry, light_attenuation, sediment, and modifiers. This is automatically set up for existing BGC models, but may also be used to couple any BGC model with light attenuation and sediments. See the [implementation page](@ref model_implementation) for some more information on how to couple other models.