Effects of Urbanization in Mid-Atlantic Coastal Basins on Estuarine Water Quality
Thomas
R
Fisher, Horn Point Laboratory, Univ. of MD-CES, fisher@hpl.umces.edu
(Presenting)
Anatoly
Gitelson, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, gitelson@calmit.unl.edu
Gregory
Radcliffe, Horn Point Laboratory, Univ. of MD-CES, gradclif@hpl.umces.edu
Daniela
Gurlin, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, dgurlin@calmit.unl.edu
Wesley
J
Moses, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, wmoses@calmit.unl.edu
Estuaries are mixtures of freshwater from their drainage basins and seawater from the adjacent coastal ocean. In the Mid-Atlantic region of the US, we have examined the effects of basin inputs to the Chesapeake, Delaware and Hudson estuaries. Delivery of CNP and suspended sediment from watersheds to the estuaries is strongly determined by land cover, human population density, and soil properties. There were particularly strong relationships between agricultural + urban lands on average N and P concentrations in rivers (r2 > 0.9). We have used both monitoring data (USGS) and model estimates (GWLF) to estimate basin inputs to their estuaries. Within the estuaries, we estimated the spatial distributions (and errors) of turbidity and chlorophyll a using a validated two-band model applied to MODIS data and a three-band model applied to MERIS data. The algorithms were calibrated and validated using datasets collected over a considerable range of optical properties and trophic status in Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and US inland waters. The distributions of turbidity and chlorophyll a reflected known patterns in estuaries, including the low salinity turbidity maximum and chlorophyll a maximum further downstream. The results show that these semi-enclosed estuaries process the nutrient and particulate inputs from their basins, but long water residence times within the estuaries are required for sedimentation and phytoplankton accumulation to remove the basin inputs within the estuary.
NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Active Awards Represented by this Poster: