Bay Oxygen Research Group

Scope and Purpose

The diverse fauna of the Chesapeake Bay needs sufficient dissolved oxygen (DO) throughout the tidal waters to survive and thrive. Water quality criteria for dissolved oxygen (DO) were developed for the Chesapeake Bay according to designated uses that protect the habitat suitable for supporting survival, growth and reproduction of fish, shellfish and other aquatic life. Criteria assessment currently involves spatially interpolating DO observations with an inverse-distance-weighting tool, but the Chesapeake Bay Program is interested in revising this approach.

The Bay Oxygen Research Group assists in developing a new water quality interpolation tool to generate DO estimates across space and through time, improving upon the current spatial interpolation used in the Chesapeake Bay. The output of the tool will allow for expanded evaluation of short-duration criteria (i.e., instantaneous minimum, 1-day mean, 7 day mean) and aid in habitat assessments. The group will focus on development of the initial tools from 2021 to 2023 before advancing work on application and education in the following years (2023 – 2025).