Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Dissolved Oxygen Just Crashed to 40% at NMB

It looks like it is starting to rebound a bit.  


Why is dissolved oxygen important?
Oxygen is measured in its dissolved form as dissolved oxygen (DO). If more oxygen is consumed than is produced, dissolved oxygen levels decline and some sensitive animals may move away, weaken, or die.
DO levels fluctuate seasonally and over a 24-hour period. They vary with water temperature and altitude. Cold water holds more oxygen than warm water (Table 5.3) and water holds less oxygen at higher altitudes. Thermal discharges, such as water used to cool machinery in a manufacturing plant or a power plant, raise the temperature of water and lower its oxygen content. Aquatic animals are most vulnerable to lowered DO levels in the early morning on hot summer days when stream flows are low, water temperatures are high, and aquatic plants have not been producing oxygen since sunset.
- http://water.epa.gov/type/rsl/monitoring/vms52.cfm 

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