Covariability of dissolved oxygen with physical processes in the summertime Chesapeake Bay

Long, rapidly sampled time series measurements of dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity, currents, winds, tides, and insolation were colIected during the summer of 1987 across the mesohaline Chesapeake Bay. Analyses of the data show that short term variability of dissolved oxygen was both large and spatialIy heterogeneous. Time scales of variability ranged from the longest period fluctuations resolved (several days) to the sampling interval (several minutes). The largest variability was associated with large amplitude, wind and tide forced lateral internal oscilIations of the pycnocline in the mainstem of the Bay. These resulted in advection of saline, hypoxic water from below the pycnocline onto the flanks of the Bay and into the lower reaches of the Choptank River, an adjoining tributary estuary. Advective variability at higher frequencies was likely due to internal waves, internal mixing, and/or spatial patchiness. Dissolved oxygen also responded to the daily cycle of insolation, but lagged insolation by at least 90° (6 h). Advective variability of dissolved oxygen is implicated as an important characteristic of the majority of summertime benthic environments in the mesohaline Chesapeake Bay and lower reaches of adjoining tributaries.