Assessing water quality in the Gulf Of Mexico using remote sensing data.

Hypoxia, or oxygen depletion, is a process that occurs in conjunction with eutrophication. In hypoxic conditions the dissolved oxygen levels in the water column sink to unlivable conditions for the marine organisms causing them to flee or die. Despite efforts of improvement, the annual summer Gulf of Mexico dead zone continues to be a serious threat to aquatic ecosystems. The 2012 smaller than usual dead zone was a false indicator of future improvement. The 2012 dead zone decrease was connected to the drought and inability of large amounts of runoff to flow into the gulf. Water quality analysis was done with MODIS-Aqua Chlorophyll a, MODIS-Aqua CDOM, and dissolved oxygen measurements using NOAA hypoxia watch CTD stations to better understand the seasonal trends in the last five years