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Eutrophication Dead Zone: Dissolved Oxygen Collapse (2D)

Interactive 2D eutrophication model: raise nutrient loading to trigger a real nutrient-limited algal bloom, then watch bacterial decomposition of the dead biomass pull dissolved oxygen into a time-lagged hypoxic dead zone.

Ecology & Conservation Biology2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

This 2D counterpart models the same real eutrophication cascade as a set of coupled ordinary differential equations for a well-mixed lake: nutrient-limited algal growth, death-driven accumulation of decomposing detritus, and a dissolved-oxygen balance between surface reaeration, daytime photosynthesis and bacterial decomposition of the dead biomass. Raise nutrient loading and a denser bloom forms, then crashes as it exhausts the nutrient pool; watch the live triple time-series chart show the dead-biomass pool peak after the algae, and the dissolved-oxygen minimum arrive later still — a genuine, numerically time-lagged cascade, not a cosmetic animation.

⚙ Under the hood

Raise nutrient loading on an 18-layer water column and watch an algal bloom's daytime photosynthesis and nighttime decomposition drive dissolved oxygen up and down, while thermal stratification traps a spreading hypoxic dead zone at depth.

eutrophicationdissolved oxygenalgal bloomhypoxialimnologystratification

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install