Decline In Dissolved Oxygen Concentrations Research Articles

Dissolved Oxygen Concentration Prediction in the Pearl River Estuary with Deep Learning for Driving Factors Identification: Temperature, pH, Conductivity, and Ammonia Nitrogen

Predicting the dissolved oxygen concentration and identifying its driving factors are essential for improved prevention and management of anoxia in estuaries. However, complex hydrodynamic conditions and the limitations in traditional methods result in challenges in the identification of the driving factors for the low dissolved oxygen (DO) phenomenon. The objective of our study is to develop a robust deep learning model using four-year in situ data collected from an automatic water quality monitoring station (AWQMS) in an estuary, for accurate identification and quantification of the driving factors influencing DO levels. Mitigations in hypoxia were observed during the initial two years, but a subsequent decline in DO concentrations was witnessed recently. The periodicity of DO concentrations in the Pearl River Estuary reduced with the increase in the hypoxic intensity. Maximal information coefficient (MIC) and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) were employed to determine the significance of input variables, which were subsequently validated by using the long- and short-term memory networks (LSTMs). The driving factors contributing to the hypoxia problem were shown as temperature, pH, conductivity, and NH4+-N concentrations. Notably, the evaluation index values of the hybrid model are MAPE = 0.0887 and R2 = 0.9208, which have been improved compared with the LSTM model by about 99.34% in MAPE reduction and 16.56% in R2 improvement, indicating that the MixUp-LSTM model was capable of effectively capturing nonlinear relationships between DO and other water quality indicators. Based on existing literature, three traditional statistical methods and four machine learning models were also performed to compare with the proposed MixUp-LSTM model, which outperformed other models in terms of prediction accuracy and robustness. Overall, the successful identification of the driving factors for the deoxygenation phenomenon would have important implications for the governance and regulation of low DO in estuaries.

Seasonal and sub-seasonal oxygen and nutrient fluctuations in an embayment of an eastern boundary upwelling system: St Helena Bay

Seasonal, sub-seasonal and spatial fluctuations in bottom dissolved oxygen (DO) were examined in St Helena Bay, South Africa’s largest and most productive embayment, between November 2013 and November 2014. Alongshore bay characteristics were assessed through comparison of variables along the 50-m depth contour. A mean coefficient of variation of 0.35 provided a measure of the relative variability of near-bottom DO concentrations along this contour. Consistently lower DO concentrations in the southern region of the bay in summer and autumn are attributed to enhanced retention. Across-shelf transects captured the seasonal development of hypoxia in relation to the distribution of phytoplankton biomass. Exceptional dinoflagellate blooms form extensive subsurface thin layers preceding the autumn DO minima in the south of the bay, prior to winter ventilation of the bottom waters. The seasonal decline in DO concentrations in the bottom waters was marked by sub-seasonal events of hypoxia, and ultimately anoxia linked to episodic deposition of organic matter, as indicated by increases in bottom chlorophyll-a concentrations. Seasonal changes in bottom water macronutrient concentrations followed trends in apparent oxygen utilisation (AOU), both of which mirrored DO concentrations. In the south of the bay, nitrogen loss through denitrification/anammox in suboxic waters was indicated by a dissolved inorganic N deficit in the bottom waters, which was most pronounced in autumn.

Coastal ocean acidification: The other eutrophication problem

Increased nutrient loading into estuaries causes the accumulation of algal biomass, and microbial degradation of this organic matter decreases oxygen levels and contributes towards hypoxia. A second, often overlooked consequence of microbial degradation of organic matter is the production of carbon dioxide (CO2) and a lowering of seawater pH. To assess the potential for acidification in eutrophic estuaries, the levels of dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2), and the saturation state for aragonite (Ωaragonite) were horizontally and vertically assessed during the onset, peak, and demise of low oxygen conditions in systems across the northeast US including Narragansett Bay (RI), Long Island Sound (CT–NY), Jamaica Bay (NY), and Hempstead Bay (NY). Low pH conditions (<7.4) were detected in all systems during summer and fall months concurrent with the decline in DO concentrations. While hypoxic waters and/or regions in close proximity to sewage discharge had extremely high levels of pCO2, (>3000 μatm), were acidic pH (<7.0), and were undersaturated with regard to aragonite (Ωaragonite < 1), even near-normoxic but eutrophic regions of these estuaries were often relatively acidified (pH < 7.7) during late summer and/or early fall. The close spatial and temporal correspondence between DO and pH and the occurrence of extremes in these conditions in regions with the most intense nutrient loading indicated that they were primarily driven by microbial respiration. Given that coastal acidification is promoted by nutrient-enhanced organic matter loading and reaches levels that have previously been shown to negatively impact the growth and survival of marine organisms, it may be considered an additional symptom of eutrophication that warrants managerial attention.

Competing controls on groundwater oxygen concentrations revealed in multidecadal time series from riverbank filtration sites

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is an important indicator of groundwater quality, but long time series of groundwater DO concentration are rare. Here we describe and analyze multidecadal time series of groundwater DO data from five Swiss aquifers that are recharged by riverbank filtration (RBF), and relate temporal features of the DO time series to potential forcing factors. Features found in the DO time series include long‐term decreases and abrupt increases. Some features occur simultaneously in hydrologically unconnected aquifers, suggesting that external forcing partially determines DO concentrations at RBF sites. The data indicate that: (i) the DO concentration in the losing river is not a critical determinant of groundwater DO concentration; (ii) increasing river‐water and groundwater temperatures, by affecting both the physical solubility of oxygen and DO consumption in the hyporheic zone, probably cause the long‐term decline in DO concentration observed in most aquifers investigated; and (iii) a complex interaction between hydrological factors such as groundwater pumping rate and river discharge results in abrupt changes in groundwater DO concentration. Climate models predict higher temperatures and more frequent flood events in central Europe, implying that groundwater DO concentrations at many RBF sites will continue to decrease in the long term, but that irregular high‐discharge events, by scouring and unclogging riverbeds, will probably prevent the occurrence of long periods of hypoxia. Nonetheless, the risk of short periods of hypoxia at RBF sites is likely to increase.

Water Quality Assessment and Modeling of an Effluent-Dominated Stream, the Notwane River, Botswana

In an effort to assess current and future water quality of the only perennial river in southeastern Botswana, this study presents water quality monitoring and modeling results for the effluent-dependent Notwane River. The water quality along the Notwane River, pre- and post-implementation of secondary wastewater treatment, was compared and results demonstrated that water quality improved after the new wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) went online. However, stream standards for chemical oxygen demand, total dissolved phosphorous, and fecal coliform were exceeded in most locations and the critical dissolved oxygen (DO) reached concentrations of less than 4 mg L(-1). High dissolved P concentrations and intense macrophyte growth at the impounding ponds and at sites within 30 km of the effluent waste stream confluence suggest that eutrophication was a function of P release from the ponds. Results of DO modeling demonstrated that an unpolluted inflow at approximately 10 km downstream of the confluence was responsible for raising DO concentrations by 2.3 mg L(-1), while SOD was responsible for a decline in DO concentrations of 1.4 mg L(-1) at 6 km downstream of the confluence. Simulations also showed higher DO concentrations during winter months, when water temperatures were lower. Simulations, in which the distributed biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) loading from cattle excrement was decreased, produced nominal increases in DO concentrations. An increase in WWTP BOD loadings to projected 2020 values resulted in a 1.3 mg L(-1) decrease in the critical DO concentration. Furthermore, a decrease in treatment plant efficiency, from 94% to 70% BOD removal, produced critical DO concentrations and anoxia along much of the modeled reach. This has significant implications for Gaborone, especially if decreased WWTP efficiency occurs as a result of the expected future increase in pollutant loadings.