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NCCOS Assessment: Coastal Ecosystem Assessment of Chesapeake Bay Watersheds, Land Use Patterns and River Conditions from 2007-04-30 to 2012-09-27 (NCEI Accession 0303961)

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: January 29, 2026 | Last Modified: 2025-05-07T00:00:00.000+00:00
This data collection comprises six years of estuarine monitoring for an assessment of coastal ecosystem health in relationship to watershed characteristics, principally land use. This investigation began in 2007 with three mesohaline (moderate salinity) rivers in the upper Chesapeake Bay, each dominated by a unique land use pattern. The Corsica, Magothy, and Rhode rivers were chosen to represent systems dominated by agricultural, residential, and mixed-use lands, respectively. Assessment of these three rivers continued annually through 2011. From 2010 to 2012, three additional oligohaline (low salinity) rivers were studied. These three--the Sassafras, Middle, and Nanjemoy Rivers--demonstrated the health effects of predominantly agricultural, urban, and forested lands, respectively. The health of each riverine ecosystem was assessed using a suite of observations focused on water quality and aquatic organism health. Standard water quality metrics such as dissolved nutrient concentrations, water clarity, and indicator bacteria loads were measured. Organismal health measurements included metrics of blue crab health, fish abundance, dominant fish species, fish parasites, fish disease, and the abundance of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). A complete description of the project can be found Leight et al. (2015).

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0303961 AMMONIUM (NH4) BACTERIA - BACTERIAL DENSITY biological data CHLOROPHYLL A CHLOROPHYLL A CONCENTRATION cloud amount/frequency CONDUCTIVITY DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON DISSOLVED OXYGEN INDIVIDUAL FISH EXAMINATION - DISEASES INDIVIDUAL FISH EXAMINATION - GENERAL HEALTH INDIVIDUAL FISH EXAMINATION - PARASITE OCCURRENCE INDIVIDUAL FISH EXAMINATION - SEX INDIVIDUAL FISH EXAMINATION - WEIGHT LATITUDE LONGITUDE nitrate + nitrite content (concentration) NITROGEN - PARTICULATE NUTRIENTS PARTICULATE CARBON particulate phosphorus pH phosphate SALINITY Secchi depth SEDIMENT - GRAIN SIZE SEDIMENT PROPERTIES SEDIMENTS silicate species abundance SPECIES IDENTIFICATION SPECIES IDENTIFICATION - ASH-FREE WEIGHT SPECIES IDENTIFICATION - DRY WEIGHT SPECIES IDENTIFICATION - SEX SPECIES IDENTIFICATION - SEXUAL MATURITY suspended solids TAXONOMIC CODE TIDE STAGE Total Dissolved Nitrogen (TDN) TOTAL PHOSPHORUS turbidity WATER CLARITY water depth WATER TEMPERATURE WEATHER WIND SPEED GPS microscope seine trawl in situ laboratory analyses NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science Chesapeake Bay oceanography DOC/NOAA/NOS/NCCOS > National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Ocean Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS > SURFACE WINDS > WIND SPEED EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > CLOUDS > CLOUD PROPERTIES > CLOUD FREQUENCY EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > BATHYMETRY/SEAFLOOR TOPOGRAPHY > WATER DEPTH EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > MARINE SEDIMENTS EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > AMMONIA EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > CARBON EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > CHLOROPHYLL EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > NITRATE EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > NITRITE EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > NITROGEN EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > NUTRIENTS EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > ORGANIC CARBON EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > OXYGEN EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > PH EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > PHOSPHATE EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > SILICATE EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > SUSPENDED SOLIDS EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN OPTICS EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN OPTICS > SECCHI DEPTH EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN OPTICS > TURBIDITY EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > WATER TEMPERATURE EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SALINITY/DENSITY > CONDUCTIVITY EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SALINITY/DENSITY > SALINITY EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > TIDES Field Observation Marine Spatial Ecology (MSE) Stressors, Impacts, Mitigation Chemical Contaminants Ecological/Biological Characterization Area of macrophage aggregates in the white perch spleens Ash Weight Biota Blue Crab Disease Assessment Chlorophyll A concentration in water samples Coastal Ecosystem Assessment Demarcation lines that define the river sections Environment Fish community abundance data from beach seine surveys Fish community abundance data from trawl surveys Indicator bacteria concentrations in water samples Inland Waters Integrated Assessment Land Use Locations of sampling sites Number of organisms in sediment samples Nutrient concentrations measured in water samples Percent grain size classes for sediment samples Sample Depth Water physicochemical parameters Watersheds White perch health indicators GIS Analysis GPS RECEIVERS > GPS RECEIVERS MICROSCOPES > MICROSCOPES NETS > NETS TRAWL Beach seine GIS software High Performance Liquid Chromatography Membrane filtration Otter trawl Trawl and seine Van Veen bottom grab Various collection gear Water grab sample YSI 6600 datasonde Small research vessel OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN Estuaries Region > East Coast U.S. States and Territories > Maryland Chesapeake Bay Corsica River Magothy River Middle River Nanjemoy River Rhode River Sassafras River 4CERUN

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