scholarly journals Effects of reduced shoreline erosion on Chesapeake Bay water clarity

2021 ◽  
Vol 769 ◽  
pp. 145157
Author(s):  
Jessica S. Turner ◽  
Pierre St-Laurent ◽  
Marjorie A.M. Friedrichs ◽  
Carl T. Friedrichs
Keyword(s):  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Shoreline Erosion

Monitored and Modeled Correlations of Sediment and Nutrients with Chesapeake Bay Water Clarity

2013 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1103-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Wang ◽  
Lewis C. Linker ◽  
Richard A. Batiuk
Keyword(s):  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Water Clarity

Shoreline Erosion in the Upper Chesapeake Bay: Point Lookout State Park to Calvert Cliffs State Park, Maryland, July 16, 1989

10.1029/ft233 ◽  
1989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orrin H. Pilkey ◽  
Chistopher Zabawa ◽  
John Ernissee ◽  
Jordan Loran
Keyword(s):  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Shoreline Erosion

scholarly journals Impacts of Water Clarity Variability on Temperature and Biogeochemistry in the Chesapeake Bay

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 1973-1991
Author(s):  
Grace E. Kim ◽  
Pierre St-Laurent ◽  
Marjorie A. M. Friedrichs ◽  
Antonio Mannino
Keyword(s):  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Light Attenuation ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Biogeochemical Model ◽  
Colored Dissolved Organic Matter ◽  
Surface Temperatures ◽  
Variable Light ◽  
Variable Water

Abstract Estuarine water clarity depends on the concentrations of aquatic constituents, such as colored dissolved organic matter, phytoplankton, inorganic suspended solids, and detritus, which are influenced by variations in riverine inputs. These constituents directly affect temperature because when water is opaque, sunlight heats a shallower layer of the water compared to when it is clear. Despite the importance of accurately predicting temperature variability, many numerical modeling studies do not adequately account for this key process. In this study, we quantify the effect of water clarity on heating by comparing two simulations of a hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model of the Chesapeake Bay for the years 2001–2005, in which (1) water clarity is constant in space and time for the computation of solar heating, compared to (2) a simulation where water clarity varies with modeled concentrations of light-attenuating materials. In the variable water clarity simulation, the water is more opaque, particularly in the northern region of the Bay. This decrease in water clarity reduces the total heat, phytoplankton, and nitrate throughout the Bay. During the spring and summer months, surface temperatures in the northern Bay are warmer by 0.1 °C and bottom temperatures are colder by 0.2 °C in the variable light attenuation simulation. Warmer surface temperatures encourage phytoplankton growth and nutrient uptake near the head of the Bay, and fewer nutrients are transported downstream. These impacts are greater during higher river flow years, when differences in temperature, nutrients, phytoplankton, and zooplankton extend further seaward compared to other years. This study demonstrates the consequences of utilizing different light calculations for estuarine heating and biogeochemistry.

Managing for Water Clarity in Chesapeake Bay

2004 ◽  
Vol 130 (6) ◽  
pp. 631-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl F. Cerco ◽  
Mark R. Noel ◽  
Lewis Linker
Keyword(s):  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Water Clarity

scholarly journals Multiple stressors threaten the imperiled coastal foundation species eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Chesapeake Bay, USA

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan S Lefcheck ◽  
David J Wilcox ◽  
Rebecca R Murphy ◽  
Scott R Marion ◽  
Robert J Orth
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Zostera Marina ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Water Quality Data

Interactions among global change stressors and their effects at large scales are often proposed, but seldom evaluated. This situation is primarily due to lack of comprehensive, sufficiently long-term, and spatially-extensive datasets. Seagrasses, which provide nursery habitat, improve water quality, and constitute a globally-important carbon sink, are among the most vulnerable habitats on the planet. Here, we unite 31-years of high-resolution aerial monitoring and water quality data to elucidate the patterns and drivers of eelgrass (Zostera marina) abundance in Chesapeake Bay, USA, one of the largest and most valuable estuaries in the world with an unparalleled history of regulatory efforts. We show that eelgrass area has declined 29% in total since 1991, with wide-ranging and severe ecological and economic consequences. We go on to identify an interaction between decreasing water clarity and warming temperatures as the primary driver of this trend. Declining clarity has gradually reduced eelgrass over the past two decades, primarily in deeper beds where light is already limiting. In shallow beds, however, reduced visibility exacerbates the physiological stress of acute warming, leading to recent instances of decline approaching 80%. While degraded water quality has long been known to influence underwater grasses worldwide, we demonstrate a clear and rapidly emerging interaction with climate change. We highlight the urgent need to integrate a broader perspective into local water quality management, in the Chesapeake Bay and in the many other coastal systems facing similar stressors.

scholarly journals From toes to top-of-atmosphere: Fowler’s Sneaker Depth index of water clarity for the Chesapeake Bay

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. A361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Crooke ◽  
Lachlan I.W. McKinna ◽  
Ivona Cetinić
Keyword(s):  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Depth Index

scholarly journals Adaptations by Zostera marina Dominated Seagrass Meadows in Response to Water Quality and Climate Forcing

Diversity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Shields ◽  
Kenneth Moore ◽  
David Parrish
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Zostera Marina ◽  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Climate Forcing ◽  
Seagrass Meadows ◽  
Response To Water

Global assessments of seagrass declines have documented accelerating rates of loss due to anthropogenic sediment and nutrient loadings, resulting in poor water quality. More recently, global temperature increases have emerged as additional major stressors. Seagrass changes in the Chesapeake Bay, USA provide important examples of not only the effects of human disturbance and climate forcing on seagrass loss, but also meadow recovery and resiliency. In the York River sub-tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, the meadows have been monitored intensively using annual aerial imagery, monthly transect surveys, and continuous water quality measurements. Here, Zostera marina has been demonstrating a shift in its historical growth patterns, with its biomass peaking earlier in the growing season and summer declines beginning earlier. We found an increasing trend in the length of the most stressful high temperature summer period, increasing by 22 days since 1950. Over the past 20 years, Z. marina’s abundance has exhibited periods of decline followed by recovery, with recovery years associated with greater spring water clarity and less time spent at water temperatures > 28 °C. Although human disturbance and climatic factors have been altering these seagrass meadows, resilience has been evident by an increase in reproductive output and regrowth from Z. marina seedlings following declines, as well as expansions of Ruppia maritima into areas previously dominated by Z. marina.

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