Data

Projections of vegetated area and vegetated plain elevation for salt marsh units within the Chesapeake Bay (CB) salt marsh complex are calculated using geospatial information for conceptual marsh units defined by Ackerman and others (2022) and Defne and others (2023). The projections are based on the UBMorph model, described in Ganju and others (2025), which estimates changes in areal...

Through data sharing agreements with Federal and State agencies, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collects time-series of environmental management practice data to inform studies that guide resource management decisions. These data include agricultural conservation practices, best management practices (BMPs), and pollution control strategies in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This data...

The Chesapeake Bay watershed is home to over 18.5 million people and continues to experience rapid population growth. With changes in population and land development, understanding current conditions of streams within the watershed (status), and changes in condition over time (trends) is important for assessing stream health. This data release contains the output files for results of...

We report two draft genomes of previously undescribed Mycobacterium spp. isolated from invasive Northern snakehead (Channa argus) inhabiting the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, USA. The average nucleotide identity between these isolates and other available genomes was

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of ubiquitous, environmentally persistent compounds that pose a threat to human and wildlife health. Ospreys (Pandion halieatus) are a model avian species with a documented history of serving as effective bioindicators of contamination. Our study aims to provide a more thorough understanding of PFAS presence in the Chesapeake and...

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended-sediment loads, and changes in loads, in major rivers across the Chesapeake Bay watershed were calculated using monitoring data from the Chesapeake Bay River Input Monitoring (RIM) Network stations for the period 1985 through 2024. Nutrient and suspended-sediment loads and changes in loads were determined by applying a weighted regression approach...

The Chesapeake Bay Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) Database facilitates the characterization of the landscape over time for three discrete time periods at 1-meter spatial resolution. The database was developed by Chesapeake Conservancy (CC) in cooperation with the University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as part of a 6-year Cooperative Agreement...

As part of a larger study examining stream conditions and the effect of best management practices in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, thirty small streams across the Pennsylvania and Maryland piedmont physiographic province were instrumented and monitored for gage height (water level), water temperature, and air temperature using Onset HOBO sensors from March to September 2023. In addition...

The Chesapeake Bay Hyper-Resolution Hydrography Database is intended to facilitate analysis of the landscape in the Chesapeake Bay watershed through identification of headwater and other low-order streams or drainage features (e.g. ditches) that, to date, may be absent from existing hydrography data products. A full description of the methodology and accuracy assessment is provided in...

Results of statistical analyses of nontidal and tidal station measurements of suspended sediment concentrations in the Chesapeake Bay and watershed, collected from 1984-2021 by Chesapeake Bay Program and partners and the U.S. Geological Survey. Original measurements were retrieved from online data repositories.

The Chesapeake Stream Team studied 123 streams from 2021 to 2024 to determine whether conservation practices in agricultural and urban settings have improved downstream nontidal stream health. To isolate effects of conservation practices, scientists must account for other attributes in the greater watershed that may affect measured metrics of stream health. This release includes over 450...

This data release provides contaminant data from bed sediment collected from small streams between 2021 and 2024 in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. These data are part of a larger study designed to determine how conservation practices are affecting local stream ecosystem health, which stressors are negatively impacting streams, and which landscape characteristics are associated with better...