USGS scientists recently contributed to the development of a Rising Water Temperatures Partnership Report.

"The average temperature of the water is increasing across the Chesapeake Bay watershed, placing pressure on an already vulnerable ecosystem. While the changes might seem minor from a human perspective—a roughly 1.2-degree Celsius increase from 1960 to 2010— even the smallest shifts in temperature can cause a waterway to become uninhabitable for certain species and make our pollution reduction and habitat management practices less effective.

The Chesapeake Bay Program's Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) sponsored a workshop in 2022, supported by many partners in the Chesapeake Bay Program, to investigate the various impacts of increasing water temperatures. The committee recently released a report that summarizes the major findings from the workshop as well as recommendations for how to reduce and adapt to these changes.

The STAC report is one of the most comprehensive of its kind, synthesizing the causes and effects of rising water temperatures in the Bay watershed and impacts to wildlife and their habitat. It gives everyone who works in Chesapeake Bay restoration a roadmap for not only moderating temperature increases where we can with conservation strategies and best management practices, but also adapting to an ecosystem that’s already begun to change. . ."

Read full blog on CBP site

Rising Watershed and Bay Water Temperatures— Ecological Implications and Management Responses

STAC Workshop Report