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Potential And Timescales For Oxygen Depletion In Coastal Upwelling Systems: A Box-Model Analysis, Cheryl S. Harrison, B. Hales, S. Siedlecki, R. M. Samelson

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

A simple box model is used to examine oxygen depletion in an idealized ocean-margin upwelling system. Near-bottom oxygen depletion is controlled by a competition between flushing with oxygenated offshore source waters and respiration of particulate organic matter produced near the surface and retained near the bottom. Upwelling-supplied nutrients are consumed in the surface box, and some surface particles sink to the bottom where they respire, consuming oxygen. Steady states characterize the potential for hypoxic near-bottom oxygen depletion; this potential is greatest for faster sinking rates, and largely independent of production timescales except in that faster production allows faster sinking. Timescales …