Examination of the relationship of river water to occurrences of bottom water with reduced oxygen concentrations in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Six years of comprehensive data sets collected over the northern continental shelf and upper slope of the Gulf of Mexico during the LATEX-A and NEGOM-COH programs showed that low-oxygen waters (<2.4 mL????L-1) are found only in spring and summer and only in water depths between 10 and 60 m. Four regions in the northern Gulf show considerable differences in the occurrence of low-oxygen waters. Lowoxygen waters are observed almost exclusively in regions subject to large riverine influences: the Louisiana and Mississippi-Alabama shelves. Hypoxic waters (oxygen concentrations <1.4 mL????L-1) are found only over the Louisiana shelf. No low-oxygen water is found over the Florida shelf which has minimum riverine influence. Lowoxygen water is found at only one station on the Texas shelf; this is during spring when the volume of low-salinity water is at maximum. The distributions of low-salinity water influenced the different distributions of low-oxygen and hypoxic waters in the four regions. Low-oxygen occurrences are clearly related to vertical stratification. Lowoxygen occurred only in stable water columns with maximum Brunt-V????is????l???? frequency (Nmax) greater than 40 cycles????h-1. When Nmax exceeded 100 cycles????h-1 in summer over the Louisiana shelf, oxygen concentrations dropped below 1.4 mL????L-1, and the bottom waters became hypoxic. Salinity is more important than temperature in controlling vertical stratification. Locations where temperature influence was larger were found in summer in water depth greater than 20 m over the Louisiana shelf, along the near shore areas of the Mississippi-Alabama shelf west of 87????W, and in the inner shelf waters of the Texas shelf. The extent of oxygen removal at the bottom of these stable water columns is reflected in the amount of remineralized silicate. Silicate concentrations are highest closest to the Mississippi River Delta and decrease east and west of the Delta. EOF analyses show that more than 65% of the oxygen variance is explained by the first mode. The amplitude functions of the first EOF modes of bottom oxygen, water column Brunt- V????is????l???? maxima, and bottom silicate are well correlated, indicating that much of the variance in bottom oxygen is explained by water column stratification and bottom remineralization.