Pelagic primary production and respiration in the York River Estuary sampled in 2018-2021.

Abstract

We measured pelagic primary production and respiration in the York River Estuary (YRE), a tributary of Chesapeake Bay, over two annual cycles (2018-19) and during two late-summer periods (2020-21) characterized by intense blooms of the dinoflagellates Margalefidinium polykrikoides and Alexandrium monilatum. During 2018-19, water was collected bimonthly from channel stations along the axis of the YRE. During 2020 and 2021, water was collected approximately weekly at stations inside and outside of bloom patches (n=3 each) in late summer in the lower YRE. Water was incubated across the full range of surface irradiance at in situ temperatures in a light gradient box. Metabolic rates were computed as the change in dissolved oxygen over the course of the incubations (1-3 hours in the light; overnight in the dark) as measured with Hach luminescent dissolved oxygen sensors. Data were used to construct photosynthesis-irradiance (P-I) curves that were combined with hourly surface irradiance, light attenuation, and estuarine bathymetry to compute vertically-integrated, daily rates. This dataset includes measured turbidity, extracted chlorophyll-a, and measured salinity, which were used to compute the vertical attenuation coefficient, statistically-determined P-I parameters normalized to measured chlorophyll-a, and vertically-integrated, daily rates of gross primary production and respiration.

For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/962330