Loading...
2020 Chesapeake Bay Dead Zone Report
Abstract
The “Dead Zone” of the Chesapeake Bay refers to a volume of bottom water that is characterized by dissolved oxygen concentrations less than 2 mg/L, which is too low for aquatic organisms such as fish and blue crabs to thrive.The Chesapeake Bay experiences such “hypoxic”conditions every year, with the severity varying from year to year, depending on nutrient and freshwater inputs, wind, and temperature. Multiple metrics are used to relate the severity of hypoxia between different years: Hypoxic Duration (days): The number of days in a given year between the first and last day of hypoxic conditions exceeding 2 km3in volume Total Annual Hypoxic Volume (km3days): The total amount of hypoxia in the Bay for a given year, calculated by summing the hypoxic volume on each day Maximum Daily Hypoxic Volume (km3): The greatest volume of Chesapeake Bay water experiencing hypoxic conditions on any day of the year
Description
Date
2020-09-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Collections
Download Dataset
Files
Rights Holder
Usage License
Embargo
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Research and Technical Reports, Chesapeake bay, water quality, hypoxia
Citation
Advisor
Department
Virginia Institute of Marine Science