Type

Text

Type

Thesis

Advisor

Swanson, Robert L. | Wilson, Robert E. | Bokuniewicz, Henry.

Date

2017-08-01

Keywords

Physical oceanography | Bay Park STP | inter-annual trends | MCA | nitrogen | SGD

Department

Department of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Language

en_US

Source

This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree

Identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/11401/78212

Publisher

The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.

Format

application/pdf

Abstract

West Bay, located on the south shore of Long Island, is impaired with regard to nitrogen, as identified by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC). This nitrogen impairment has manifested itself through harmful algal blooms as well as blooms of the macroalga, ulva sp.. The NYS DEC is required to set limits for nitrogen in order to remediate the impairment, but the inter-annual variability of nitrogen has not, as yet, been characterized. A number of sewage treatment plants discharge directly into the bay; the largest being the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). The objectives of this study are to characterize concentrations associated with both long-term mean and inter-annual variations in nitrogen species and to describe the short-term effects of effluent flow from a damaged STP. Analyses of spatial structure in salinity and nitrate concentrations based on Town of Hempstead long-term monitoring data revealed a possible freshwater nitrate source in the northwestern portion of West Bay. Ammonia is the dominant nitrogen species; analyses of spatial structure in ammonia concentration clearly point to Bay Park STP and the source. Time series data from a United States Geographic Survey (USGS) station located in West Bay were analyzed to determine whether submarine groundwater discharge represented a significant nitrogen source in the vicinity of the station location and to characterize effects of a release of untreated and partially treated sewage into the bay. No relationship was found between nitrate and salinity that would suggest submarine groundwater discharge was a large source of nitrate at the USGS station location. This result, combined with previous studies, supports the hypothesis that submarine groundwater discharge is not a large nitrogen source in West Bay. The damage to the Bay Park STP from Superstorm Sandy led to short-term elevation in nitrogen, depression in dissolved oxygen concentrations, and depression in salinity due to excessive effluent flows following the storm. While these effects were short-term and did not result in a harmful algal bloom or impacts on human recreation, had Superstorm Sandy occurred in late summer or early fall, harmful algal blooms and restricted recreational use would both have been probable outcomes. | 67 pages

Download

Share

COinS