Chesapeake Bay Activities
Home
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.
USGS leads STAC report on water clarity changes over the past 30 years
Water clarity is widely recognized as an important indicator of the health and trophic state of aquatic ecosystems and is a key management target given the limit it imposes on the growth of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV).
Find out moreTargeted management may help reduce nitrogen loading to Chesapeake Bay
Largest projected reductions associated with decreasing agricultural fertilizer application
Learn more hereQuick 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.
Science Features, Summaries, and Videos
USGS Chesapeake Bay Science Fact Sheet
Chesapeake Bay Activities Bibliography
News
Freshwater flows to Bay highest in 82 years of monitoring
Bay Journal — by Karl Blankenship — December 02, 2019
Bay health impacted by record flows
Chesapeake Bay Program — by Dylan Reynolds — November 26, 2019
The Chesapeake Bay gets some good news
EARTH Magazine — by Mary Caperton Morton — November 4, 2019
Publications
A comparison of hydrocarbon-related landscape disturbance patterns along the New York-Pennsylvania border, 2004–2013
Executive SummaryThe New York-Pennsylvania area has a long history of hydrocarbon extraction, and the addition of shale gas extraction methods contributes to landscape disturbance borne by previously developed oil and non-shale gas resources. The main unconventional extraction method used to extract shale gas from the Marcellus Shale located in...
Roig-Silva, Coral M.; Milheim, Lesley E.; Slonecker, E. Terrence; Kalaly, Siddiq; Chestnut, Joseph
Employing an ecosystem services framework to deliver decision ready science
Public land managers have limited information to allow for the integration and balancing of multiple objectives in land management decisions including the social (cultural and health), economic (monetary and nonmonetary), and environmental aspects. In this article, we document an approach to consider the many facets of decision making by...
Pindilli, Emily J.; Hogan, Dianna M.; Zhu, Zhiliang Response of nitrogen loading to the Chesapeake Bay to source reduction and land use change scenarios: A SPARROW‐informed analysis
In response to concerns regarding the health of streams and receiving waters, the United States Environmental Protection Agency established a total maximum daily load for nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay watershed for which practices must be in place by 2025 resulting in an expected 25% reduction in load from 2009 levels. The response of total...
Miller, Matthew; Capel, Paul D.; Garcia, Ana M.; Ator, Scott W.