Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001
| SS15 Biomechanics: Making the Connection Between Physics and Biology at the Organismal Level (Disciplinary Connections) |
| Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001, Time: 9:45:00 AM |
| Location: Mesilla |
| Reynolds-Fleming, J, V, Institute of Marine Sciences/Univ. of North Carolina-CH, Morehead City, USA, janelle@email.unc.edu |
| Fleming, J, G, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA, jgflemin@eos.ncsu.edu |
| Luettich, R, A, Institute of Marine Sciences/Univ. of North Carolina-CH, Morehead City, USA, rick_luettich@unc.edu |
| ACROSS CHANNEL VARIABILITY OF LOW DISSOLVED OXYGEN WATERS AS DRIVEN BY METEOROLOGICAL FORCING AND HOW IT MAY CAUSE FISH KILLS IN AN ESTUARY IN NC, USA. |
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| The Neuse River Estuary, a shallow, wind-driven estuary in eastern North Carolina, has been the focus of recent outbreaks of hypoxia, toxicity and fish kills associated with declining water quality. During the summer months, large volumes of hypoxic/anoxic water develop and persist along the central channel of the estuary. The central channel follows the morphology of the estuary and has a 90-degree bend, which aligns the lower (upper) estuary parallel (perpendicular) to prevailing winds. This particular orientation causes wind-driven across-channel circulation in the upper estuary, which, in turn causes low dissolved oxygen water to be advected from the central channel and upwelled along the shorelines of the estuary. This advection of low dissolved oxygen waters may trap fish along the shorelines and may ultimately be the cause of fish kills. Innovative technology, which allows the autonomous recording of continuous, high-resolution vertical profiles at two locations in a cross section of the upper estuary, reveals a temporally variable cross-channel circulation highly dependent on meteorological forcing. Observations indicate that wind-driven upwelling of hypoxic water occurs within 15-minutes of wind onset. |
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