T54 Restoring the Nation’s Largest Estuary: Lessons Learned from Efforts to Address Changes in Water Quality and Ecosystem Structure and Function within the Context of Landscape Change and Climate Variability in the Chesapeake Bay and Its Watershed

Sunday, 1 November 2015
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Room 308

COMPARING OBSERVED CHANGES IN NUTRIENT AND SEDIMENT FLUX TO CHESAPEAKE TRIBUTARIES WITH PROCESS-BASED MODEL PREDICTIONS

Paper number: T54-4
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 2:10 PM – 2:25 PM

Authors

Abstract

Insights from monitoring programs and a suite of watershed and estuarine models are used to support Chesapeake Bay restoration. Monitoring data are critical components of model calibration, development, and application. Nine tributaries to Chesapeake Bay have been monitored for more than three decades as part of the River Input Monitoring Program. Nutrient and suspended-sediment flux histories and flow-normalized trends have been calculated for these rivers using the statistical tool Weighted Regressions on Time Discharge and Season (WRTDS). Changes in observed nutrient and suspended sediment fluxes were compared to expected changes due to land use change and management-practice implementation. These analyses provide critical insights into the response of watershed loading to environmental change. In turn, the results of these comparisons are being applied to improve modeling tools and to guide Chesapeake Watershed restoration actions.