Effect of hydrological variability on the biogeochemistry of estuaries across a regional climatic gradient as seen data obtained from 2013-07-02 to 2016-07-18

This study showed the effect of hydrological variability on the biogeochemistry of estuaries across a regional climatic gradient as seen data obtained from 2013-07-02 to 2016-07-18. A climatic gradient exists along the Texas coast where freshwater inflow balance ranges from hydrologically positive to negative (where evaporation exceeds inflow) within a narrow latitudinal band, providing a natural experiment for examining inflow effects. Four Texas estuaries ranging from mesosaline to hypersaline were studied for 3 years to determine how hydrological changes alter the biogeochemistry within and among the estuaries. Physical, nutrient, and carbon constituents were measured. Hydrological changes over spatial gradients are analogous to climatic changes over time, meaning climate change forecasts of higher temperatures and decreased precipitation can make the biogeochemistry of fresher estuaries change to the patterns of saltier estuaries. This dataset supports the publication Montagna, P.A., Hu, X., Palmer, T.A. and Wetz, M. (2018), Effect of hydrological variability on the biogeochemistry of estuaries across a regional climatic gradient. Limnol. Oceanogr., 63: 2465-2478. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10953