Monitoring Dissolved Oxygen
The Connecticut DEP generally begins cruising the Sound in late June or early July to take dissolved oxygen and water quality measurements. It then generates maps that it puts online here. I’ve added this site (“DEP Hypoxia Maps”) to my list of links in the righthand column, and will post a notice when the DEP starts posting its results.
Water temperature in the Sound has risen dramatically recently, by the way. Near the surface, the temperature is already up to 69 in the western Sound, 66 in the central Sound, and 59 near the Race. The MySound website, which is where I found these numbers, doesn’t seem to have records from similar dates in previous years, so I can’t say for sure whether 69 degrees is warm for June 10. But it seems as if it is. Warm temperatures are a prerequisite for low dissolved oxygen and have been implicated in the lobster die-off of recent years.
Water temperature in the Sound has risen dramatically recently, by the way. Near the surface, the temperature is already up to 69 in the western Sound, 66 in the central Sound, and 59 near the Race. The MySound website, which is where I found these numbers, doesn’t seem to have records from similar dates in previous years, so I can’t say for sure whether 69 degrees is warm for June 10. But it seems as if it is. Warm temperatures are a prerequisite for low dissolved oxygen and have been implicated in the lobster die-off of recent years.
posted by Tom Andersen at 2:22 PM
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