Neuston transport across NW Romanian Black Sea shelf

The neuston community of the northwestern Black Sea is shaped by environmental conditions such as nutrient availability and temperature, and redistributed by physical drivers including surface currents, wind, wave-induced transport, and vertical turbulence. By combining physical and statistical modelling, we aimed to investigate the transport and variability of neustonic organisms, focusing on pontellid copepods along the Romanian shelf. We applied the OpenDrift Lagrangian modeling framework to simulate the probabilistic displacement patterns of neustonic organisms in the Black Sea (Romanian shelf). The model integrates hydrodynamic forcing (Copernicus-derived surface currents, wind fields, and wave parameters) and stochastic uncertainty to generate detailed drift patterns that reveal potential movement pathways. The statistical results suggest that wind speed and direction, Danube River discharge, and primary productivity significantly influence neuston aggregation and dispersal. High wind speeds appeared to reduce accumulation, likely due to enhanced turbulence, while directional winds and plume dynamics structured transport pathways.These findings support the role of pontellids as bioindicators of near-surface hydrodynamic processes and offer a framework for tracing convergence and retention mechanisms in coastal systems.