Data

In July 2022, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Maryland's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory conducted a study, USGS Field Activity Number (FAN) 2022-020-FA, in Chesapeake Bay to quantify greenhouse gas fluxes from the largest estuary in the United States. The team investigated the environmental factors that control the distribution and exchange of methane and carbon...

The database for the Washington West 30- by 60-minute quadrangle covers an area of approximately 4,884 square kilometers (1,343 square miles) in and west of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The eastern part of the area is highly urbanized, and more rural areas to the west are rapidly being developed. The area lies entirely within the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin and mostly...

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended-sediment loads, and changes in loads, in rivers across the Chesapeake Bay watershed were calculated using monitoring data from the Chesapeake Bay Nontidal Network (NTN) stations for the period 1985 through 2023. Nutrient and suspended-sediment loads and changes in loads were determined by applying a weighted regression approach called WRTDS (Weighted...

Marsh migration potential in the Chesapeake Bay (CB) salt marshes is calculated in terms of available migration area for each marsh unit defined by Ackerman and others (2022). The space available for landward migration is based on the NOAA marsh migration predictions under 2.0 feet of local sea-level rise (SLR). The migration space is further divided by National Hydrography Dataset (NHD)...

The survey was conducted to assess the distribution of terrapins in the Chesapeake Bay, based on evidence related to nesting. We conducted a survey of the beaches during the nesting season in the summer of 2002. We walked along the shoreline of over 1350 beach segments looking for evidence signifying the presence of terrapins based on nesting activity. These results represent a single...

From May 27 to June 21, 2024, a Virginia Tech team of 5 sampled the fish community in 30 streams spanning a gradient of the developed landscape, including Potomac River, Rappahannock River, and upper Chesapeake Bay tributaries of Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia, USA. These fish surveys were part of a larger stream-health study including other teams who surveyed geomorphology...

In this study, blue catfish were sampled from tidal reaches of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland (Nanticoke River, Broad Creek, Marshyhope Creek, and Patuxent River) from March - October and at some sites, during specific times of the year. All fish were analyzed with histology to assess reproductive stage (immature, pre-spawn, and post-spawn) and plasma was collected for multiple endpoints...

This data release contains summary metrics describing stream stage, stream water temperature, and short-term climate conditions (daily precipitation and air temperature) for 30 streams spanning gradients of forest and row-crop land uses and agricultural best management practice implementation in the Delmarva Peninsula of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, USA. This setting is the second...

Each year from 2021-2024, teams from the US Geological Survey and Virginia Tech studied 30 streams with a targeted gradient of land use and conservation practices across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The four years of the study cover the following geographic areas and land use characteristics: -Shenandoah Valley and Ridge pasture -Delmarva row crop -Pennsylvania and Maryland Piedmont...

Freshwater salinization is an emerging water quality issue for non-tidal streams and rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (CBW), USA region. A model was developed to predict specific conductance (SC; a proxy for salinity) conditions across the CBW and departures from background SC. Discrete observations of SC from 1999-2016 were acquired from a published SC data inventory and...

Degraded physical habitat is a common stressor affecting river ecosystems and a primary focus of management activities, including stream restorations. In order to assess regional conditions and help prioritize management efforts, there is an ongoing need to provide estimates of different aspects of instream physical habitat conditions at spatially continuous scales. We utilized over 16...

This metadata record contains two tables with reported and calculated amounts of biosolids applied to agricultural land within the Chesapeake Bay watershed in 2023 at different scales. Included in the dataset are (1) mass of land-applied biosolids calculated for NHDPlus Version 2.1 (NHDPlusV2) reach catchments in 2023 and (2) actual amount of biosolids applied to land by county in 2023...