Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Huggett, Rebecca D.
• Haigh, Ivan D.
• Purdie, Duncan A.

Titel

Modelling the impact of river flow, macronutrients and solar radiation on the eutrophication status of small shallow estuaries

Ist Teil von

• Journal of marine systems, 2021-10, Vol.222, p.103606, Article 103606

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Small, semi-enclosed basins have often been the location of human settlements; however, this has subjected them to extensive anthropogenic use, negatively impacting the water quality and increasing their susceptibility to eutrophication. A coupled depth-averaged hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model has been configured of the shallow, microtidal Christchurch Harbour estuary, Dorset UK, to investigate processes driving declines in ecosystem health with particular emphasis on understanding the impact of changing river flows, river nutrient inputs and solar radiation. Instances of summer oxygen undersaturation and increased levels of chlorophyll were found to coincide with regions within the estuary yielding long residence times, even under low nutrient conditions. Inverse relationships between time undersaturated and both river flow and river nutrient concentration were observed but with no significant correlation between time undersaturated and solar irradiance which we attribute to the estuary's shallow nature. Our results showed that although river flow controls estuarine renewal, river nutrient concentration plays the greatest role in driving eutrophication development in small, shallow semi-enclosed basins. [Display omitted] •A coupled hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model of Christchurch Harbour was established.•The model can predict conditions leading to eutrophication.•Eutrophic susceptible areas coincide with long residence times.•Ephemeral hypoxic waters were identified under high river nutrient inputs.•Algal growth in small shallow estuaries is likely not light limited.