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Resolving drivers of variability in estuarine metabolism from in situ and experimental measurements at paired sites in a warm temperate Pensacola Bay, Florida
Citation:
Murrell, M., Jim Hagy, J. Aukamp, D. Beddick, G. Craven, A. Duffy, B. Jarvis, D. Marcovich, AND D. Yates. Resolving drivers of variability in estuarine metabolism from in situ and experimental measurements at paired sites in a warm temperate Pensacola Bay, Florida. Presented at CERF 2013, San Diego, CA, November 03 - 07, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
We investigated the integrated ecosystem properties (gross production, respiration, and net ecosystem metabolism) in the Pensacola Bay estuary, using a combination of instrument deployments and plankton metabolism experiments
Description:
We investigated the integrated ecosystem properties (gross production, respiration, and net ecosystem metabolism) in the Pensacola Bay estuary, using a combination of instrument deployments and plankton metabolism experiments. High-frequency water quality data were collected from April to September 2013 at paired sites chosen to represent a contrast between a shallow (<2 m) seagrass site and a nearby site in deeper water. Each in situ instrument measured temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), depth, chlorophyll fluorescence and CDOM fluorescence every 30 minutes. Additionally photo-synthetically active radiation (PAR) was measured at 2 depths per site to characterize water column light attenuation. We also deployed a weather station at the nearby labaoratory dock to measure temperature, wind speed, and PAR. Primary production and respiration experiments were conducted with site-collected water at weekly intervals, using the light-dark oxygen technique and were related to estimates of metabolism inferred from the high frequency DO data using the open water method. The data will be analyzed to examine wind-based parameterization of air-sea oxygen exchange rates and how variability in water quality constituents relate to ecosystem metabolic rates. Comparisons will be made among bottle measurements and shallow vs. deep site open water metabolism estimates with the hypothesis that differences may be related to benthic (including seagrass) productivity. Also of interest is whether periodic differences in light attenuation at the channel and shoal sites are associated with wind-driven sediment resuspension, because such differences have implications for understanding the light field available to seagrass. Finally, the results from this study will be compared to estimates of water quality and process rates simulated using EFDC/WASP simulation models of Pensacola Bay.