Associated dataset: Impacts of Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition and Coastal Nitrogen Fluxes on Oxygen Concentrations in Chesapeake Bay

The dataset includes model outputs used in publication Da et al. (2018), which used the Estuarine-Carbon-Biogeochemistry model embedded in the Regional-Ocean-Modeling-System (ChesROMS-ECB) to examine the relative impact of direct atmospheric dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) deposition and DIN from the continental shelf on the Chesapeake Bay dissolved oxygen. Model simulations highlight that DIN from the atmosphere has roughly the same impact on hypoxia as the same gram-for-gram change in riverine DIN loading. DIN concentrations on the continental shelf has a similar overall impact on hypoxia as DIN from the atmosphere

Mechanisms driving decadal changes in the carbonate system of a coastal plain estuary: Associated dataset

This dataset includes model outputs presented in the associated publication (Da et al. 2021, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans). This study used a three-dimensional ecosystem model to quantify the relative impacts of multiple anthropogenic drivers on the Chesapeake Bay carbonate system over the past three decades. Model simulations highlight that increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations and decreased terrestrial nutrient inputs are two primary drivers causing nearly equal reductions in pH in surface waters of the Bay

The competing impacts of climate change and nutrient reductions on dissolved oxygen in Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay region is projected to experience changes in temperature, sea level, and precipitation as a result of climate change. This research uses an estuarine-watershed hydrodynamic-biogeochemical modeling system along with projected mid-21st-century changes in temperature, freshwater flow, and sea level rise to explore the impact climate change may have on future Chesapeake Bay dissolved-oxygen (DO) concentrations and the potential success of nutrient reductions in attaining mandated estuarine water quality improvements. Results indicate that warming bay waters will decrease oxygen solubility year-round, while also increasing oxygen utilization via respiration and remineralization, primarily impacting bottom oxygen in the spring. Rising sea level will increase estuarine circulation, reducing residence time in bottom waters and increasing stratification. As a result, oxygen concentrations in bottom waters are projected to increase, while oxygen concentrations at mid-depths (3 \u3c DO \u3c 5 mg L-1) will typically decrease. Changes in precipitation are projected to deliver higher winter and spring freshwater flow and nutrient loads, fueling increased primary production. Together, these multiple climate impacts will lower DO throughout the Chesapeake Bay and negatively impact progress towards meeting water quality standards associated with the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load. However, this research also shows that the potential impacts of climate change will be significantly smaller than improvements in DO expected in response to the required nutrient reductions, especially at the anoxic and hypoxic levels. Overall, increased temperature exhibits the strongest control on the change in future DO concentrations, primarily due to decreased solubility, while sea level rise is expected to exert a small positive impact and increased winter river flow is anticipated to exert a small negative impact

Effects of tidal-forcing variations on tidal properties along a narrow convergent estuary

A 1D analytical framework is implemented in a narrow convergent estuary that is 78 km in length (the Guadiana, Southern Iberia) to evaluate the tidal dynamics along the channel, including the effects of neap-spring amplitude variations at the mouth. The close match between the observations (damping from the mouth to ∼ 30 km, shoaling upstream) and outputs from semi-closed channel solutions indicates that the M2 tide is reflected at the estuary head. The model is used to determine the contribution of reflection to the dynamics of the propagating wave. This contribution is mainly confined to the upper one third of the estuary. The relatively constant mean wave height along the channel (< 10% variations) partly results from reflection effects that also modify significantly the wave celerity and the phase difference between tidal velocity and elevation (contradicting the definition of an “ideal” estuary). Furthermore, from the mouth to ∼ 50 km, the variable friction experienced by the incident wave at neap and spring tides produces wave shoaling and damping, respectively. As a result, the wave celerity is largest at neap tide along this lower reach, although the mean water level is highest in spring. Overall, the presented analytical framework is useful for describing the main tidal properties along estuaries considering various forcings (amplitude, period) at the estuary mouth and the proposed method could be applicable to other estuaries with small tidal amplitude to depth ratio and negligible river discharge.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Estuarine Dissolved Organic Carbon Flux From Space: With Application to Chesapeake and Delaware Bays

This study uses a neural network model trained with in situ data, combined with satellite data and hydrodynamic model products, to compute the daily estuarine export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) at the mouths of Chesapeake Bay (CB) and Delaware Bay (DB) from 2007 to 2011. Both bays show large flux variability with highest fluxes in spring and lowest in fall as well as interannual flux variability (0.18 and 0.27 Tg C/year in 2008 and 2010 for CB; 0.04 and 0.09 Tg C/year in 2008 and 2011 for DB). Based on previous estimates of total organic carbon (TOCexp) exported by all Mid‐Atlantic Bight estuaries (1.2 Tg C/year), the DOC export (CB + DB) of 0.3 Tg C/year estimated here corresponds to 25% of the TOCexp. Spatial and temporal covariations of velocity and DOC concentration provide contributions to the flux, with larger spatial influence. Differences in the discharge of fresh water into the bays (74 billion m3/year for CB and 21 billion m3/year for DB) and their geomorphologies are major drivers of the differences in DOC fluxes for these two systems. Terrestrial DOC inputs are similar to the export of DOC at the bay mouths at annual and longer time scales but diverge significantly at shorter time scales (days to months). Future efforts will expand to the Mid‐Atlantic Bight and Gulf of Maine, and its major rivers and estuaries, in combination with coupled terrestrial‐estuarine‐ocean biogeochemical models that include effects of climate change, such as warming and CO2 increase

Mechanisms Driving Decadal Changes in the Carbonate System of a Coastal Plain Estuary

Understanding decadal changes in the coastal carbonate system is essential for predicting how the health of these waters responds to anthropogenic drivers, such as changing atmospheric conditions and riverine inputs. However, studies that quantify the relative impacts of these drivers are lacking. In this study, the primary drivers of decadal trends in the surface carbonate system, and the spatiotemporal variability in these trends, are identified for a large coastal plain estuary: the Chesapeake Bay. Experiments using a coupled three-dimensional hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model highlight that, over the past three decades, the changes in the surface carbonate system of Chesapeake Bay have strong seasonal and spatial variability. The greatest surface pH and aragonite saturation state (ΩAR) reductions have occurred in the summer in the middle (mesohaline) Bay: −0.24 and −0.9 per 30 years, respectively, with increases in atmospheric CO2 and reductions in nitrate loading both being primary drivers. Reductions in nitrate loading have a strong seasonal influence on the carbonate system, with the most pronounced decadal decreases in pH and ΩAR occurring during the summer when primary production is strongly dependent on nutrient availability. Increases in riverine total alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon have raised surface pH in the upper oligohaline Bay, while other drivers such as atmospheric warming and input of acidified ocean water through the Bay mouth have had comparatively minor impacts on the estuarine carbonate system. This work has significant implications for estuarine ecosystem services, which are typically most sensitive to surface acidification in the spring and summer seasons

Zonal circulation across 52°W in the North Atlantic

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2004. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 109 (2004): C11008, doi:10.1029/2003JC002103.In July–August 1997, a hydrographic/Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)/tracer section was occupied along 52°W in the North Atlantic as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment Hydrographic Program. Underway and lowered ADCP (LADCP) data have been used to reference geostrophic velocities calculated from the hydrographic data; additional (small) velocity adjustments provided by an inverse model, constraining mass and silicate transports in 17 neutral density layers, yield the absolute zonal velocity field for 52°W. We find a vigorous circulation throughout the entire section, with an unusually strong Gulf Stream (169 Sv) and southern Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC; 64 Sv) at the time of the cruise. At the northern boundary, on the west side of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, we find the westward flowing Labrador Current (8.6 Sv), whose continuity from the Labrador Sea, east of our section, has been disputed. Directly to the south we identify the slopewater current (12.5 Sv eastward) and northern DWBC (12.5 Sv westward). Strong departures from strictly zonal flow in the interior, which are found in the LADCP data, make it difficult to diagnose the circulation there. Isolated deep property extrema in the southern portion, associated with alternating bands of eastward and westward flow, are consistent with the idea that the rough topography of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, directly east of our section, causes enhanced mixing of Antarctic Bottom Water properties into overlying waters with distinctly different properties. We calculate heat and freshwater fluxes crossing 52°W that exceed estimates based on air-sea exchanges by a factor of 1.7.This work was supported by NSF grants OCE95-29607, OCE 95-31864, OCE98-18266, and OCE-0219644

Seasonal Variability of the CO2 System in a Large Coastal Plain Estuary

The Chesapeake Bay, a large coastal plain estuary, has been studied extensively in terms of its water quality, and yet, comparatively less is known about its carbonate system. Here we present discrete observations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity from four seasonal cruises in 2016–2017. These new observations are used to characterize the regional CO2 system and to construct a DIC budget of the mainstem. In all seasons, elevated DIC concentrations were observed at the mouth of the bay associated with inflowing Atlantic Ocean waters, while minimum concentrations of DIC were associated with fresher waters at the head of the bay. Significant spatial variability of the partial pressure of CO2 was observed throughout the mainstem, with net uptake of atmospheric CO2 during each season in the upper mainstem and weak seasonal outgassing of CO2 near the outflow to the Atlantic Ocean. During the time frame of this study, the Chesapeake Bay mainstem was (1) net autotrophic in the mixed layer (net community production of 0.31‐mol C m−2·year−1) and net heterotrophic throughout the water column (net community production of −0.48‐mol C m−2·year−1), (2) a sink of 0.38‐mol C m−2·year−1 for atmospheric CO2, and (3) significantly seasonally and spatially variable with respect to biologically driven changes in DIC. DATA available at: https://doi.org/10.25773/rntn‐ez1

High-frequency CO2-system variability over the winter-to-spring transition in a large coastal plain estuary

Understanding the vulnerability of estuarine ecosystems to anthropogenic impacts requires a quantitative assessment of the dynamic drivers of change to the carbonate (CO2) system. Here we present new high‐frequency pH data from a moored sensor. These data are combined with discrete observations to create continuous time series of total dissolved inorganic carbon (TCO2), CO2 partial pressure (pCO2), and carbonate saturation state. We present two deployments over the winter‐to‐spring transition in the lower York River (where it meets the Chesapeake Bay mainstem) in 2016/2017 and 2017/2018. TCO2 budgets with daily resolution are constructed, and contributions from circulation, air‐sea CO2 exchange, and biology are quantified. We find that TCO2 is most strongly influenced by circulation and biological processes; pCO2 and pH also respond strongly to changes in temperature. The system transitions from autotrophic to heterotrophic conditions multiple times during both deployments; the conventional view of a spring bloom and subsequent summer production followed by autumn and winter respiration may not apply to this region. Despite the dominance of respiration in winter and early spring, surface waters were undersaturated with respect to atmospheric CO2 for the majority of both deployments with mean fluxes ranging from −9 to −5 mmol C·m−2·day−1. Deployments a year apart indicate that the seasonal transition in the CO2 system differs significantly from one year to the next and highlights the necessity of sustained monitoring in dynamic nearshore environments

Challenges in Quantifying Air‐Water Carbon Dioxide Flux Using Estuarine Water Quality Data: Case Study for Chesapeake Bay

Estuaries play an uncertain but potentially important role in the global carbon cycle via CO2 outgassing. The uncertainty mainly stems from the paucity of studies that document the full spatial and temporal variability of estuarine surface water partial pressure of carbon dioxide ( p CO2). Here, we explore the potential of utilizing the abundance of pH data from historical water quality monitoring programs to fill the data void via a case study of the mainstem Chesapeake Bay (eastern United States). We calculate p CO2 and the air‐water CO2 flux at monthly resolution from 1998 to 2018 from tidal fresh to polyhaline waters, paying special attention to the error estimation. The biggest error is due to the pH measurement error, and errors due to the gas transfer velocity, temporal sampling, the alkalinity mixing model, and the organic alkalinity estimation are 72%, 27%, 15%, and 5%, respectively, of the error due to pH. Seasonal, interannual, and spatial variability in the air‐water flux and surface p CO2 is high, and a correlation analysis with oxygen reveals that this variability is driven largely by biological processes. Averaged over 1998–2018, the mainstem bay is a weak net source of CO2 to the atmosphere of 1.2 (1.1, 1.4) mol m−2 yr−1 (best estimate and 95% confidence interval). Our findings suggest that the abundance of historical pH measurements in estuaries around the globe should be mined in order to constrain the large spatial and temporal variability of the CO2 exchange between estuaries and the atmosphere