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Continuous Monitoring Reveals Drivers of Dissolved Oxygen Variability in a Small California Estuary

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Abstract

Estuarine ecosystem diversity and function can be degraded by low oxygen concentrations. Understanding the spatial and temporal patterns of dissolved oxygen (DO) variation and the factors that predict decreases in DO is thus essential to inform estuarine management. We investigated DO variability and its drivers in Elkhorn Slough, a shallow, well-mixed estuary affected by high nutrient loading and with serious eutrophication problems. Long-term (2001–2012), high-resolution (15 min) time series of DO, water level, winds, and solar radiation from two fully tidal sites in the estuary showed that hypoxia events close to the bottom are common in the summer at the more upstream estuarine station. These events can occur in any lunar phase (spring to neap), at any time of the day, and both on sunny or cloudy days. They are, however, short-lived (lasting in average 40 min) and mainly driven by momentary low turbulent diffusion around slack tides (both at high and low water). Tidal advective transport explains up to 52.1% of the daily DO variability, and the water volume (or DO reservoir) contained in the estuary was not sufficient to avoid hypoxia in the estuary. Solar radiation was responsible for a positively correlated DO daily cycle but caused a decreased in the averaged DO in the summer at the inner station. Wind-driven upwelling reduced the average DO at the more oceanic station during spring. The approach we employed, using robust techniques to remove suspect data due to sensor drift combined with an array of statistical techniques, including spectral, harmonic, and coherence spectrum analysis, can serve as a model for analyses of long-term water quality datasets in other systems. Investigations such as ours can inform coastal management by identifying key drivers of hypoxia in estuaries.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Ron Eby, Rikke Jeppesen, and Miguel Rodriguez for assistance in the field and to Mike Kennish for improving the manuscript. Nick Nidzieko generously provided extensive suggestions that strengthened the analyses and writing.

Funding Information

This work was supported by a grant from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (supporting RS) and grants from NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management to the Elkhorn Slough Foundation on behalf of the Elkhorn Slough Estuarine Research Reserve (supporting GL, JH, and KW).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. I4SEA, Technological Center of Bahia, Salvador, 41.745-715, Brazil

    Rafael Santana

  2. Federal University of Bahia, Campus Ondina, Salvador, 40.170-020, Brazil

    Guilherme C. Lessa

  3. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, 1700 Elkhorn Road, Watsonville, CA, USA

    John Haskins & Kerstin Wasson

  4. University of California, Santa Cruz, 100 Schaffer Road, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Kerstin Wasson

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  1. Rafael Santana
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Correspondence to Kerstin Wasson.

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Communicated by Charles Simenstad

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Santana, R., Lessa, G.C., Haskins, J. et al. Continuous Monitoring Reveals Drivers of Dissolved Oxygen Variability in a Small California Estuary. Estuaries and Coasts 41, 99–113 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-017-0329-8

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