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What is the impact of Light on Ocean Primary Production and Hypoxia?
Citation:
Gould, R., B. Penta, D. Ko, J. Lehrter, L. Lowe, I. Shulman, S. Ladner, AND Jim Hagy. What is the impact of Light on Ocean Primary Production and Hypoxia? NRL Review. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, , 175-177, (2017).
Impact/Purpose:
The purpose of this document is to convey to the stakeholders associated with the Naval Research Laboratory the nature, scope and purpose of research being conducted at the Naval Research Laboratory. The NRL Review is an annual publication that highlights research conducted at NRL in that year.
Description:
In the northern Gulf of Mexico, nutrients from upstream agricultural fertilization and river runoff are delivered to the Louisiana Continental Shelf (LCS) via the Mississippi-Atchafalaya river basin. This increased nutrient loading stimulates a phytoplankton bloom; as the resulting phytoplankton biomass sinks to the seafloor and decays, oxygen levels in the water can be reduced to very low levels, causing hypoxia. The magnitude and distribution of solar radiation incident at the sea surface impacts the physics, chemistry, and biology of the ocean, which impacts development of hypoxia. Our goal is to develop a simulation model to better understand how interactions between biotic and abiotic factors affect primary production and oxygen dynamics on the LCS. Specifically, we are interested in how light variability (PAR) can impact the magnitude, distribution, and duration of hypoxia. The research was develop jointly by the Naval Research Laboratory and the US Environmental Protection Agency (NHEERL/Gulf Ecology Division).
