Chesapeake Bay Activities
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The Chesapeake Bay is our Nation’s largest estuary and provides over $100 billion in annual economic value. The USGS works with Federal, State, local, and academic partners to provide research and monitoring and to communicate results to inform management for the Chesapeake and other important landscapes across the Nation. See our Science page to learn about our themes and topics being addressed.
Implementation of Agricultural Practices in Chesapeake Bay Watershed
This data series presents the aggregated datasets compiled by the USGS in October 2017, documenting annual USDA-sponsored BMP implementation from 2007 through 2017.
Find out moreThe Effects of Florence and High River Flow During Summer 2018
Read more about the effects of Hurricane Florence and high river flow during the 2018 summer on the Chesapeake Bay
Near record levelsQuick Links
Learn more about USGS science activities in the Bay from our Science Strategy. Additional summaries of the USGS Chesapeake Bay Activities are available in the science topics section.
USGS Chesapeake Bay Science Fact Sheet
Chesapeake Bay Activities Bibliography
Estimated River Flow Entering Chesapeake Bay
Science Features and Summaries
News
Scientists waiting to see if record 2018 rainfall dampens Bay recovery
Bay Journal - Karl Blankenship - 1/7/2019
For the Chesapeake, 2018 was a year of mud, trash, and sewage as unrelenting rainfall washed across its vast watershed, sending unusually high amounts of freshwater runoff into the Bay month after month.
Toxics, long-ignored, once again on cleanup radar
After being on back burner behind nutrients and sediment, PCBs are getting more attention
Annual dead-zone report card for the Chesapeake Bay, U.S.
An annual model-based report on "dead-zone" conditions in the Chesapeake Bay.
Publications
Controls of the spatial variability of denitrification potential in nontidal floodplains of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA
Identifying floodplains with high rates of denitrification will help prioritize restoration projects for the removal of nitrogen. Currently, relationships of denitrification with hydrogeomorphic, physiographic, and climate (i.e., largescale) characteristics of floodplains are relatively unknown, even though these...
Korol, Alicia R.; Noe, Gregory B.; Ahn, Changwoo
Agricultural conservation practice implementation in the Chesapeake Bay watershed supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides cost-share funding and technical assistance to support the implementation of agricultural conservation practices on farms throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Conservation implementation has been substantial in the time period for which digital records are available (from 2007 through 2017)....
Hively, W. Dean; Devereux, Olivia H.; Keisman, Jennifer L.D. Bank‐derived material dominates fluvial sediment in a suburban Chesapeake Bay watershed
Excess fine sediment is a leading cause of ecological degradation within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. To effectively target sediment mitigation measures, it is necessary to identify and quantify the delivery of sediment sources to local waterbodies.This study examines the contributions of sediment sources within Upper Difficult Run, a...
Cashman, Matthew J.; Gellis, Allen; Gorman Sanisaca, Lillian; Noe, Gregory B.; Cogliandro, Vanessa; Baker, Anna