Abstract
Although seasonal hypoxia is a well-studied phenomenon in many coastal systems, most previous studies have only focused on variability and controls on low-oxygen water masses during warm months when hypoxia is most extensive. Surprisingly, little attention has been given to investigations of what controls the development of hypoxic water in the months leading up to seasonal oxygen minima in temperate ecosystems. Thus, we investigated aspects of winter–spring oxygen depletion using a 25-year time series (1985–2009) by computing rates of water column O2 depletion and the timing of hypoxia onset for bottom waters of Chesapeake Bay. On average, hypoxia (O2 <62.5 μM) initiated in the northernmost region of the deep, central channel in early May and extended southward over ensuing months; however, the range of hypoxia onset dates spanned >50 days (April 6 to May 31 in the upper Bay). O2 depletion rates were consistently highest in the upper Bay, and elevated Susquehanna River flow resulted in more rapid O2 depletion and earlier hypoxia onset. Winter–spring chlorophyll a concentration in the bottom water was highly correlated with interannual variability in hypoxia onset dates and water column O2 depletion rates in the upper and middle Bay, while stratification strength was a more significant driver in the timing of lower Bay hypoxia onset. Hypoxia started earlier in 2012 (April 6) than previously recorded, which may be related to unique climatic and biological conditions in the winter–spring of 2012, including the potential carryover of organic matter delivered to the system during a tropical storm in September 2011. In general, mid-to-late summer hypoxic volumes were not correlated to winter–spring O2 depletion rates and onset, suggesting that the maintenance of summer hypoxia is controlled more by summer algal production and physical forcing than winter-spring processes. This study provides a novel synthesis of O2 depletion rates and hypoxia onset dates for Chesapeake Bay, revealing controls on the phenology of hypoxia development in this estuary.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boicourt, W.C. 1992. Influences of circulation processes on dissolved oxygen in the Chesapeake Bay. In Oxygen dynamics in the Chesapeake Bay, a synthesis of recent research, ed. D.E. Smith, M. Leffler, and G. Mackiernan, 7–59. College Park: Maryland Sea Grant.
Boynton, W.R., and W.M. Kemp. 2000. Influence of river flow and nutrient loads on selected ecosystem processes: a synthesis of Chesapeake Bay data. In Estuarine science: a synthetic approach to research and practice, ed. J.E. Hobbie, 269–298. Washington DC: Island Press.
Brady, D.C., T.E. Targett, and D.M. Tuzzolino. 2009. Behavioral responses of juvenile weakfish (Cynoscion regalis) to diel-cycling hypoxia: swimming speed, angular correlation, expected displacement, and effects of hypoxia acclimation. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 66: 415–424.
Brady, D.C., J.M. Testa, D.M.D. Toro, W.R. Boynton, and W.M. Kemp. 2013. Sediment flux modeling: calibration and application for coastal systems. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 117: 107–124.
Breitburg, D.L. 1990. Near-shore hypoxia in the Chesapeake Bay: patterns and relationships among physical factors. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 30: 593–609.
Breitburg, D.L. 2002. Effects of hypoxia, and the balance between hypoxia and enrichment, on coastal fishes and fisheries. Estuaries 25: 767–781.
Burdige, D.J. 1991. The kinetics of organic matter mineralization in anoxic marine sediments. Journal of Marine Research 49: 727–761.
Burns, N.M., D.C. Rockwell, P.E. Bertram, D.M. Dolan, and J.J.H. Ciborowski. 2005. Trends in temperature, Secchi depth, and dissolved oxygen depletion rates in the central basin of Lake Erie, 1983–2002. Journal of Great Lakes Research 31: 35–49.
Casamayor, E.O., J. García-Cantizano, J. Mas, and C. Pedrós-Alió. 2001. Primary production in estuarine oxic/anoxic interfaces: contribution of microbial dark CO2 fixation in the Ebro River Salt Wedge Estuary. Marine Ecology Progress Series 215: 49–56.
Cheng, P., M. Li, and Y. Li. 2013. Generation of an estuarine sediment plume by a tropical storm. Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans 118: 856–868.
Conley, D.J., C. Humborg, L. Rahm, O.P. Savchuk, and F. Wulff. 2002. Hypoxia in the Baltic Sea and basin-scale changes in phosphorus biogeochemistry. Environmental Science and Technology 36: 5315–5320.
Cronin, W.B., and D.W. Pritchard. 1975. Additional statistics on the dimensions of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries: cross-section widths and segment volumes per meter depth. Chesapeake Bay Institute, The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland Reference 75–3. Special Report 42. 475.
Decker, M.B., D.L. Breitburg, and J.E. Purcell. 2004. Effects of low dissolved oxygen on zooplankton predation by the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi. Marine Ecology Progress Series 280: 163–172.
Díaz, R.J., and R. Rosenberg. 2008. Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems. Science 321: 926–929.
Durham, W.M., and R. Stocker. 2012. Thin phytoplankton layers: characteristics, mechanisms, and consequences. Annual Review of Marine Science 4: 177–207.
Feng, Y., S.F. DiMarco, and G.A. Jackson. 2012. Relative role of wind forcing and riverine nutrient input on the extent of hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Geophysical Research Letters 39:DOI: 10.1029/2012GL051192.
Fofonoff, N.P. 1985. Physical properties of seawater: a new salinity scale and equation of state for seawater. Journal of Geophysical Research 90: 3332–3342.
Fritsch, F.N., and R.E. Carlson. 1980. Monotone piecewise cubic interpolation. SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis 17: 238–246.
Garcia, H.E., T.P. Boyer, S. Levitus, R.A. Locarnini, and J. Antonov. 2005. On the variability of dissolved oxygen and apparent oxygen utilization content for the upper world ocean: 1955 to 1998. Geophysical Research Letters 32:doi:10.1029/2004GL022286.
Goodrich, D.M., W.C. Boicourt, P. Hamilton, and D.W. Pritchard. 1987. Wind-induced destratification in Chesapeake Bay. Journal of Physical Oceanography 17: 2232–2240.
Hagy, J.D., W.R. Boynton, C.W. Keefe, and K.V. Wood. 2004. Hypoxia in Chesapeake Bay, 1950–2001: long-term change in relation to nutrient loading and river flow. Estuaries 27: 634–658.
Hagy, J.D., W.R. Boynton, and D.A. Jasinski. 2005. Modeling phytoplankton deposition to Chesapeake Bay sediments during winter–spring: interannual variability in relation to river flow. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 62: 25–40.
Harding, L.W., and E. Perry. 1997. Long-term increase of phytoplankton biomass in Chesapeake Bay, 1950–1994. Marine Ecology Progress Series 157: 39–52.
Hirsch, R.M. 2012. Flux of nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment from the Susquehanna River Basin to the Chesapeake Bay during Tropical Storm Lee, September 2011, as an indicator of the effects of reservoir sedimentation on water quality. U.S. Geological Survey. Scientific Investigations Report 2012–5185. 17 p.
Justíc, D., N.N. Rabalais, and R.E. Turner. 2005. Coupling between climate variability and coastal eutrophication: evidence and outlook for the northern Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Sea Research 54: 25–35.
Kemp, W.M., P. Sampou, J. Caffrey, M. Mayer, K. Henriksen, and W.R. Boynton. 1990. Ammonium recycling versus denitrification in Chesapeake Bay sediments. Limnology and Oceanography 35: 1545–1563.
Kemp, W.M., P.A. Sampou, J. Garber, J. Tuttle, and W.R. Boynton. 1992. Seasonal depletion of oxygen from bottom waters of Chesapeake Bay: roles of benthic and planktonic respiration and physical exchange processes. Marine Ecology Progress Series 85: 137–152.
Kemp, W.M., S. Puskaric, J. Faganeli, E.M. Smith, and W.R. Boynton. 1999. Pelagic–benthic coupling and nutrient cycling. In Coastal and estuarine studies, ecosystems at the land-sea margin: drainage basin to coastal sea, ed. T.C. Malone, A. Malej, J.L.W. Harding, N. Smodlaka, and R.E. Turner, 295–339. Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union.
Kemp, W.M., J.M. Testa, D.J. Conley, D. Gilbert, and J.D. Hagy. 2009. Temporal responses of coastal hypoxia to nutrient loading and physical controls. Biogeosciences 6: 2985–3008.
Kuo, A.Y., K. Park, and M.Z. Moustafa. 1991. Spatial and temporal variabilities of hypoxia in the Rappahannock River, Virginia. Estuaries 14: 113–121.
Lee, D.Y., D. Keller, B.C. Crump, and R.R. Hood. 2012. Community metabolism and energy transfer in the Chesapeake Bay estuarine turbidity maximum. Marine Ecology Progress Series 449: 65–82.
Lee, Y., W.R. Boynton, M. Li, and Y. Li. 2013. Role of late winter–spring wind influencing summer hypoxia in Chesapeake Bay. Estuaries and Coasts 36: 683–696.
Li, Y., and M. Li. 2011. Effects of winds on stratification and circulation in a partially mixed estuary. Journal of Geophysical Research 116: doi:10.1029/2010JC006893.
Malone, T.C. 1987. Seasonal oxygen depletion and phytoplankton production in Chesapeake Bay: preliminary results of 1985–86 field studies. In Dissolved oxygen in Chesapeake Bay, ed. M. Mackiernan, 54–60. College Park: Maryland Sea Grant.
Malone, T.C., W.M. Kemp, H.W. Ducklow, W.R. Boynton, J.H. Tuttle, and R.B. Jonas. 1986. Lateral variation in the production and fate of phytoplankton in a partially stratified estuary. Marine Ecology Progress Series 32: 149–160.
Malone, T.C., L.H. Crocker, S.E. Pike, and B.W. Wendler. 1988. Influence of river flow on the dynamics of phytoplankton in a partially stratified estuary. Marine Ecology Progress Series 48: 235–249.
Matthews, D.A., and S.W. Effler. 2006. Long-term changes in the areal hypolimnetic oxygen deficit (AHOD) of Onondaga Lake: evidence of sediment feedback. Limnology and Oceanography 51: 702–714.
Murphy, R.M., F.C. Curriero, and W.P. Ball. 2010. Comparison of spatial interpolation methods for water quality evaluation in the Chesapeake Bay. Journal of Environmental Engineering 136: 160–171.
Murphy, R.R., W.M. Kemp, and W.P. Ball. 2011. Long-term trends in Chesapeake Bay seasonal hypoxia, stratification, and nutrient loading. Estuaries and Coasts 34: 1293–1309.
Nestlerode, J.A., and R.J. Diaz. 1998. Effects of periodic environmental hypoxia on predation of a tethered polychaete, Glycera americana: implications for trophic dynamics. Marine Ecology Progress Series 172: 185–195.
Newell, R.I.E., W.M. Kemp, J.D.I. Hagy, C.F. Cerco, J.M. Testa, and W.R. Boynton. 2007. Top-down control of phytoplankton by oysters in Chesapeake Bay, USA: comment on Pomeroy et al. (2006). Marine Ecology Progress Series 341: 293–298.
O’Donnell, J.H., H.G. Dam, W.F.W.F. Bohlen, W. Fitzgerald, P.S. Gray, A.E. Houk, D.C. Cohen, and M.M. Howard-Strobel. 2008. Intermittent ventilation in the hypoxic zone of western Long Island Sound during the summer of 2004. Journal of Geophysical Research 113: 1–13.
Officer, C.B., R.B. Biggs, J.L. Taft, E. Cronin, M.A. Tyler, and W.R. Boynton. 1984. Chesapeake Bay anoxia: origin, development and significance. Science 223: 22–27.
Pomeroy, L.R., C.F. D’Elia, and L.C. Schaffner. 2006. Limits to top-down control of phytoplankton by oysters in Chesapeake Bay. Marine Ecology Progress Series 325: 301–309.
Pond, S., and G.L. Pickard. 1983. Introductory dynamical oceanography, 2nd. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinmann.
Pytkowicz, R.M. 1971. On the apparent oxygen utilization and the preformed phosphate in the oceans. Limnology and Oceanography 16: 39–42.
R Development Core Team. 2009. The R project for statistical computing. http://www.r-project.org/. Accessed 15 Feb 2013.
Rabalais, N.N., and D. Gilbert. 2009. Distribution and consequences of hypoxia. In Watersheds, bays and bounded seas, ed. E. Urban, B. Sundby, P. Malanotte-Rizzoli, and J.M. Melillo, 209–226. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
Ribeiro, P.J., and P.J. Diggle. 2009. geoR: A package for geostatistical analysis using the R software. http://leg.ufpr.br/geoR/. Accessed 15 Feb 2013.
Rosa, F., and N.M. Burns. 1987. Lake Erie central basin oxygen depletion changes from 1929–1980. Journal of Great Lakes Research 13: 684–696.
Sampou, P., and W.M. Kemp. 1994. Factors regulating plankton community respiration in Chesapeake Bay. Marine Ecology Progress Series 110: 249–258.
Sanford, L.P., and W.C. Boicourt. 1990. Wind-forced salt intrusion into a tributary estuary. Journal of Geophysical Research 95: 13357–13371.
Sanford, L.P., S.E. Suttles, and J.P. Halka. 2001. Reconsidering the physics of the Chesapeake Bay estuarine turbidity maximum. Estuaries 24: 655–669.
Scavia, D., E.L.A. Kelly, and J.D. Hagy. 2006. A simple model for forecasting the effects of nitrogen loads on Chesapeake Bay hypoxia. Estuaries and Coasts 29: 674–684.
Scully, M.E. 2010. Wind modulation of dissolved oxygen in Chesapeake Bay. Estuaries and Coasts 33: 1164–1175.
Taft, J.L., W.R. Taylor, E.O. Hartwig, and R. Loftus. 1980. Seasonal oxygen depletion in Chesapeake Bay. Estuaries 3: 242–247.
Testa, J.M. 2013. Dissolved oxygen and nutrient cycling in Chesapeake Bay: an examination of controls and biogeochemical impacts using retrospective analysis and numerical models. College Park: University of Maryland.
Testa, J.M., and W.M. Kemp. 2012. Hypoxia-induced shifts in nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in Chesapeake Bay. Limnology and Oceanography 57: 835–850.
Testa, J.M., D.C. Brady, D.M.D. Toro, W.R. Boynton, J.C. Cornwell, and W.M. Kemp. 2013. Sediment flux modeling: nitrogen, phosphorus and silica cycles. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 131: 245–263.
Vaquer-Sunyer, R., and C.M. Duarte. 2008. Thresholds of hypoxia for marine biodiversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105: 15452–15457.
Westrich, J.T., and R.A. Berner. 1984. The role of sedimentary organic matter in bacterial sulfate reduction: the G Model tested. Limnology and Oceanography 29: 236–249.
White, J.R., and M.R. Roman. 1992. Seasonal study of grazing by metazoan zooplankton in the mesohaline Chesapeake Bay. Marine Ecology Progress Series 86: 251–261.
Wilson, R.E., R.L. Swanson, and H.A. Crowley. 2008. Perspectives on long-term variations in hypoxia conditions in western Long Island Sound. Journal of Geophysical Research 113: doi: 10.1029/2007JC004693.
Zimmerman, A.R., and E.A. Canuel. 2001. Bulk organic matter and lipid biomarker composition of Chesapeake Bay surficial sediments as indicators of environmental processes. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 53: 319–341.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the United States National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Hypoxia Research Program (CHRP-NAO7NOS4780191), the National Science Foundation-funded Chesapeake Bay Environmental Observatory (CBEO-3 BERS-0618986), the State of Maryland Department of Natural Resources (K00B920002), and the Horn Point Laboratory Bay and Rivers Graduate Fellowship. We would like to thank the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for providing monitoring data; Rebecca Murphy for help and support in interpolation approaches; Randall Burns and Eric Perlman for development, maintenance, and support of the CBEO testbed; William Ball, Walter Boynton, Damian Brady, Dominic Di Toro, and Jeff Cornwell for many insightful discussions. This work is NOAA Coastal Hypoxia Research Program (CHRP) Publication # 186 and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Publication # 4849.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by Dennis Swaney
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Testa, J.M., Kemp, W.M. Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Winter–Spring Oxygen Depletion in Chesapeake Bay Bottom Water. Estuaries and Coasts 37, 1432–1448 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-014-9775-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-014-9775-8