Collaborative Research: Physical processes in formation and breakdown of hypoxia in a tropical bay

该项目是研究缺氧的热带海湾在巴拿马（巴伊亚德尔阿米兰特）使用的组合正在进行的监测数据，新的观察，和数值模式。该项目将侧重于热带系统特有的物理过程。海洋沃茨中氧含量严重减少的缺氧现象是人类活动对河口和沿海沃茨造成的一种普遍的有害影响，并且在全球沿海地区日益严重。热带海洋系统中的缺氧现象，尽管对维持重要渔业生境和沿海生物多样性的热带生态系统有着重要影响，但人们对其了解甚少，研究也不足。该项目将包括一项观测海湾物理和化学参数的实地活动，以及一个模拟动态和生物地球化学响应并解释观测数据的建模部分。预计该项目将提供对热带系统中启动和控制缺氧的动力学的新认识。该项目的成果将通过在科学会议、大学研讨会、公开讲座、网站和同行评审的期刊文章上的介绍进行传播。向更广泛的科学界通报研究结果将包括在赠款的第三年在巴拿马举办一个关于“了解加勒比缺氧”的讲习班。该讲习班将汇集来自整个加勒比地区研究各种缺氧系统的研究人员与巴拿马当地研究人员和其他利益攸关方，该项目包括一项观测活动和数值模拟，将解决热带浅层系统缺氧的动态问题。物理和化学测量的目的是确定重要的物理过程在整个海湾的季节性缺氧事件的演变。巴伊亚阿尔米兰特是巴拿马博卡斯德尔托罗地区的一个热带海湾，经历了反复的季节性缺氧，导致珊瑚和其他无脊椎动物的广泛漂白和死亡。一个完全耦合的物理地球化学模型将开发海湾测试的动力学理解。该项目还将利用史密森热带研究所（STRI）自2010年以来每周观测（温度，盐度和氧气）的历史记录，为我们的观测提供历史背景，并为模拟提供验证。调节温度沿海地区低氧底层沃茨通风的物理过程包括淡水流入和大气通量，它们影响密度分层、平流、风、波浪和潮汐驱动的湍流混合。更好地了解热带海湾氧气变化的物理机制和环境条件，将有助于深入了解底栖生态、湍流混合、幼虫连接、沿海缺氧、海洋酸化和营养物、污染物、该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，更广泛的影响审查标准。

This project is to study hypoxia in a tropical embayment in Panama (Bahia del Amirante) using a combination of ongoing monitoring data, new observations, and a numerical model. The project will focus on physical processes unique to tropical systems. Hypoxia, whereby marine waters become severely depleted in oxygen content, is a widespread deleterious anthropogenic influence on estuarine and coastal waters and is increasing in coastal regions globally. Hypoxia in tropical marine systems is poorly understood and understudied, despite the important implications for tropical ecosystems which sustain important fisheries habitats and coastal biodiversity. The project will include a field campaign to observe the physical and chemical parameters of the Bay as well as a modeling component to simulate the dynamic and biogeochemical responses and interpret the observational data. The project is expected to provide new understanding of the dynamics that initiate and control hypoxia in tropical systems. The results of this project will be disseminated through presentations at scientific meetings, seminars at universities, public talks, websites, and peer-reviewed journal articles. Communication of results to the broader scientific community will include a workshop on "Understanding hypoxia in the Caribbean" to be held in Panama in the third year of the grant. This workshop will bring together researchers from throughout the Caribbean working on diverse hypoxic systems with local Panamanian researchers and other stakeholders.This project includes an observational campaign and numerical simulations that will address the dynamics of hypoxia in shallow tropical systems. Physical and chemical measurements are designed to identify the important physical processes throughout the evolution of a seasonal hypoxic event in the Bay. Bahia Almirante is a tropical embayment in the Bocas del Toro region of Panama that has experienced repeated, seasonal hypoxia resulting in widespread bleaching and mortality of corals and other invertebrates. A fully-coupled physical biogeochemical model will be developed for the bay to test the dynamical understanding. The project will also leverage a historical record of weekly observations (temperature, salinity and oxygen) by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) since 2010 to give historical context to our observations and to provide validation for the simulations. The physical processes regulating the ventilation of low-oxygen bottom waters in temperature coastal regions include inflow of fresh water and atmospheric fluxes, which affect density stratification, advection, and wind, wave, and tidal-driven turbulent mixing. A better understanding of the physical mechanisms and environmental conditions responsible for oxygen variability in tropical bays will yield rich insight into benthic ecology, turbulent mixing, larval connectivity, coastal hypoxia, ocean acidification and cross-shelf exchange of nutrients, pollutants, hypoxic waters.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.