Modelling photosynthetic oxygen production in rivers

Abstract

Abstract In nutrient‐rich rivers phytoplankton can contribute significantly to the dissolved oxygen balance in the summer months when the algal population and solar radiation are at their highest. This paper proposes a simple model to describe the daily oxygen production by algae and validates its parameters against experimental data taken from the river Arno. This model can be easily incorporated in more general water quality schemes where other contributions to the dissolved oxygen budget are taken into account. The model explains the observed data to a satisfactory degree and its parameter values are consistent with the river conditions.