Water Quality Monitoring

<body> <p>The Chesapeake Bay Program, a cooperative effort between the federal government and the state and local governments in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, provides funds to the states of Maryland and Virginia for the routine monitoring of 19 directly measured water quality paramenters at 49 stations in the mainstem Bay. The Water Quality Monitoring Program began in June 1984 with stations sampled once each month during the colder late fall and winter months and twice each month in the warmer months. A refinement in 1995 reduced the number of mainstem monitoring cruises to 14 per year and the number of water quality parameters to 46. "Special" cruises may be added to record unique weather events. The collecting organizations coordinate the sampling times of their respective stations, so that data for each sampling event, or "cruise", represents a synoptic picture of the Bay at that point in time. At each station, a hydrographic profile is made (including water temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen) at approximately 1 to 2 meter intervals. Water samples for chemical analysis (e.g., nutrients and chlorophyll) are collected at the surface and bottom, and at two additional depths depending on the existance and location of a pycnocline (region(s) of density discontinuity in the water column). Correlative data on sea state and climate are also collected.</p> <blockquote> <p align="center"><font size="3"><strong>Water Quality Monitoring Specifics:</strong></font></p> <div align="center"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> </td> <td> <ul> <li>Mainstem and tributary monitoring stations <ul> <li><a href="images/baydots.gif">Station map</a> </li> <li>Station locations <font size="-1">(stations table is currently being updated)</font> </li> </ul> </li> <li>Participating Agencies and Institutions (current and former) </li> <li>Routinely Monitored <a href="javascript:popWindow();">Physical, Chemical and Biological Characteristics<img src="images/intericon.gif" alt="Pop-up Window" align="absbottom" border="0" width="18" height="15"></a> </li> <li>Water Quality Cruise <a href="javascript:popWindow2();">Schedules: 1996-2004<img src="images/intericon.gif" alt="Pop-up Window" align="absbottom" border="0" width="18" height="15"></a>  </li> <li>Monitoring Subcommittee (members, meetings, workplans, workgroups, reports and publications) </li> </ul> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </div> </blockquote> <hr noshade> <p align="center"><font size="2">To bookmark this page, please use this URL: <a href="wqual.htm" target="_top">http://www.chesapeakebay.net/wqual.htm</a> </font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2">For more information, contact the Chesapeake Bay Program Office, 410 Severn Avenue, Suite 109, Annapolis, MD 21403 /  Tel: (800) YOUR-BAY /   Fax: (410) 267-5777. </font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="javascript:print()"><img src="images/print.gif" width="34" height="38" border="0" alt="Print Current Page" align="right"></a><a href="http://www.chesapeakebay.net/directions.htm" target="_top">Directions to the Bay Program Office</a><a href="http://www.chesapeakebay.net/cims" target="_top"><img src="images/cims1.gif" height="19" width="51" border="0" align="left"></a></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2">Last modified: 03/03/04</font> </body>