A High-resolution Modeling Framework to Address Coastal Hypoxia in the Indian Ocean Under Current and Future Conditions
2025 Faculty Research Award
AWARD PERIOD: 2026-2028
Coastal “dead zones,” areas with dangerously low oxygen levels, are expanding worldwide, with severe consequences for fisheries and coastal communities. Laure Resplandy, Associate Professor of Geosciences and the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) and Gabriele Villarini, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and HMEI, are coupling two new high-resolution modeling tools developed at Princeton to better understand sensitive environmental dynamics in the Indian Ocean region—home to one-third of the world’s population and the second-largest global oxygen-minimum zone. The Tiger Hillslope Link Model (Tiger-HLM) will simulate river discharge and nutrient (especially nitrogen) fluxes from land to sea, while the MOM6-COBALT-IND12 regional biophysical ocean model will track how these inputs, together with changing monsoon winds and ocean circulation, drive coastal hypoxia in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. By running scenarios for present and future climates, the team will identify continental “hotspots” that disproportionately fuel hypoxia and evaluate how climate and land-use change may alter coastal oxygen levels. The framework will help pinpoint where mitigation such as nutrient reduction or targeted monitoring of fisheries can be most effective.
Participating Departments
- Department of Geosciences
- High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI)
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Faculty
