| Deficiencies exist in our understanding of fundamental processes impacting summertime density stratification and its influence on hypoxia in the Long Island Sound (LIS). These include poor knowledge of: 1) subtidal circulation and its influence on water property residence times, 2) over-water air-sea fluxes, 3) contributions from both the above to LIS heat and mass budgets, 4) contributions from 1-D vertical processes versus 3-D advective processes, 5) the significance of atmospheric synoptic variability, and 6) the extent that interannual variability modulates these processes. Hypotheses associated with each of these scientific issues remain untested because of crucial shortcomings in our observational base. The ramifications of this lack of data are significant because coupled hydrodynamic/water quality models must necessarily be supplied or constrained by measured fields. Thus, shortcomings in the observational record contribute directly to uncertainty in LIS modeling efforts and in turn to LIS management plans. The above considerations motivate the following scientific objectives that are associated with this project: |
