The English Channel and the North Sea are diverse ecosystems, influenced by adjacent sea areas. Strong physical forcing – swells, winds, waves, fronts, gyres, tidal currents and high riverine inputs - control advection and dispersion of nutrients, pollutants, particulate matter and plankton. The areas are characterized by intense seasonal primary production, local eutrophication and harmful algal blooms. The region also represents a significant economic zone where several human activities, fisheries, waste disposal, oil drilling, transportation, coastal defence, offshore wind farms, and recreation, take place. Understanding the fluxes and balances of energy, materials and ecosystem dynamics is still patchy at best and is important in understanding primary production, eutrophication events and algal blooms. These in turn…