A new suite of multiple regression models were developed that describe the relationship between the area of bottom water hypoxia along the northern Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi-Atchafalaya River nitrate concentration, total phosphorus (TP) concentration, and discharge.
Variability in hypoxic area during midsummer was best described by models that incorporated May discharge, May nitrate and February TP concentrations; models using spring averages (April ?
June) for discharge and nitrate concentration and winter averages (January ? March) for TP concentration performed equally well.