Modelling the impact of river flow, macronutrients and solar radiation on the eutrophication status of small shallow estuaries
Modelling the impact of river flow, macronutrients and solar radiation on the eutrophication status of small shallow estuaries
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.
Eutrophication Macronutrients Microtidal Modelling Shallow UK Dorset Christchurch Harbour, Dorset, Macronutrients, Christchurch Harbour, Shallow, UK, Microtidal, Modelling, Eutrophication
Huggett, Rebecca
4c318b0e-e287-4c67-a0c6-a0cb23581df9
Haigh, Ivan
945ff20a-589c-47b7-b06f-61804367eb2d
Purdie, Duncan
18820b32-185a-467a-8019-01f245191cd8
20 October 2021
Huggett, Rebecca
4c318b0e-e287-4c67-a0c6-a0cb23581df9
Haigh, Ivan
945ff20a-589c-47b7-b06f-61804367eb2d
Purdie, Duncan
18820b32-185a-467a-8019-01f245191cd8
Huggett, Rebecca, Haigh, Ivan and Purdie, Duncan
(2021)
Modelling the impact of river flow, macronutrients and solar radiation on the eutrophication status of small shallow estuaries.
Journal of Marine Systems, 222, [103606].
(doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2021.103606).
Abstract
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.
Text
MARSYS-S-21-00037
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 15 June 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 18 June 2021
Published date: 20 October 2021
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council [grant number NE/L002531/1 ] through the SPITFIRE Doctoral Training Partnership at the University of Southampton.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
Keywords:
Eutrophication Macronutrients Microtidal Modelling Shallow UK Dorset Christchurch Harbour, Dorset, Macronutrients, Christchurch Harbour, Shallow, UK, Microtidal, Modelling, Eutrophication
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 450300
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/450300
ISSN: 0924-7963
PURE UUID: a954f58d-b433-4ea4-9724-89c6af5f20b7
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Date deposited: 21 Jul 2021 16:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:42
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Author:
Rebecca Huggett
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