Calculations of horizontal mixing rates using222Rn and the controls on hypoxia in western Long Island Sound, 1991 |
| |
| Authors: | Thomas Torgersen Edward DeAngelo James O’Donnell |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, 06340-6097, Groton, Connecticut
|
| |
| Abstract: | Late summer hypoxia (<3 ppm oxygen) in western Long Island Sound (WLIS) is a persistent environmental and management issue whose controlling processes are poorly understood. Measured rates of sediment and water-column oxygen consumption in the bottom water suggest that a condition of no oxygen should be attained on the time scale of 13–30 d. Observations, however, indicate the onset of hypoxia is of the order 150 d. Therefore, horizontal and/or vertical transport of oxygen into the area of hypoxia must play an important role. Hypoxia decreases benthic activity and the sediment flux of222Rn. The resulting horizontal gradient in bottom water222Rn was measured and used to estimate the effective horizontal transport rate (>5–50 m2 s?1), which is considerably slower than previous estimates. Scale analysis of the hypoxia process indicates that horizontal transport rates alone can explain the slow progression of hypoxia in XLIS but that vertical processes may also be capable of delaying the onset of hypoxia especially under conditions of weak stratification or weak intermediate layer oxygen consumption. This scale analysis indicates a delicately balanced process that is sensitive to both climatologically-driven variability in the rates of horizontal and vertical transport as well as the biologically-driven rates of oxygen consumption. An improved ability to predict and/or control hypoxia must be based on a better understanding of temporal and spacial variations in circulation, mixing, and stratification as well as the biological processes in the water column and the sediments. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
