July 2, 2009

After researching wind-driven circulation, we started to look at hypoxia. After finishing our reports on hypoxia, we recieved a new assignment that is much more extensive. The four of us are going to be researching four water quality parameters in the estuary and plume, temperature, salinity, CDOM, and fluorescence. We've been split into two sub groups, myself and Alma, and Monica and Maria. Alma and I will be focusing on temperature and CDOM, while Monica and Maria focus on salinity and fluorescence.

I've attached an image with data from SATURN 03. It shows three graphs, temperature, salinity, and CDOM (figure 1 below). I included salinity because Grant told us that plants accustomed to either saline water or fresh water would be shocked by mixing of the two and would die, likely raising the level of CDOM. I thought that salinity might then be an interesting thing to study in relation to CDOM. The graphs show that CDOM and salinity are inversely related. I tried to graph just salinity against CDOM, but the graph would not show up. I had similar problems when trying to graph CDOM against temperature, but these graphs already show a strong correlation between temperature and CDOM. The relatively cold water from the ocean appears to have less CDOM than the warmer river water. I've yet to be able to find an adequate amount of data to prove if this is consistent throughout the estuary and plume. There is not a great deal of CDOM data.

Figure 1.