Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Nutrient And Carbon Dynamics In The Chesapeake Bay Outflow Plume And Their Effect On The Coastal Ocean Environment, Katherine C. Filippino

OES Theses and Dissertations

Seasonally resolved nutrient and carbon fluxes from estuaries to the coastal ocean are poorly constrained. Nutrient and carbon cycling in highly productive regions like the Chesapeake Bay outflow plume and surrounding coastal environments greatly affect our global understanding of carbon cycling. The overall questions for the research described in this dissertation stem from the need to close global carbon budgets, and obtain a fundamental understanding of nutrient dynamics in a coastal region heavily influenced by seasonality and human impacts.

Within the framework of physical characteristics of the outflow plume and through the characterization of nutrient concentrations, primary productivity rates, and …