Extremes of Dissolved Oxygen in the California Current System

Abstract Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a nonconservative tracer of interactions at the air–sea interface, respiration and photosynthesis, and advection. In this manuscript, we study extremes in the degree of oxygen saturation (SO), the ratio of DO to the maximum concentration given the water’s temperature, salinity, and depth with SO = 1 critically saturated. We perform the analysis with the California Underwater Glider Network (CUGN), which operates gliders on four lines that extend from the California coast to several hundred kilometers offshore, profiling to 500-m depth every 3 km. Since ∼2017, the gliders have been equipped with a Sea-Bird 63 optode sensor to measure the DO content. We find that parcels with SO > 1.1, hyperoxic extrema, occur primarily nearshore in the upper 50 m of the water column and during nonwinter months. Along Line 90 which originates in San Diego, these hyperoxic events occur primarily in stratified waters with shallow mixed layers. We hypothesize that photosynthesis elevates DO in subsurface water that cannot rapidly ventilate with the surface. Along the three other lines, hyperoxic extrema occur almost exclusively closest to the surface and are correlated with elevated Chl-a fluorescence suggesting they are primarily driven by blooms of photosynthesis. We also examine hypoxic extrema, finding that parcels with SO < 0.9 and z < 50 m occur most frequently along the northernmost line where upwelling has the greatest impact.