Chesapeake Heroes is an article series examining local organizations and citizens working toward a healthier environment.
The Susquehanna River empties into the upper Chesapeake Bay near Havre de Grace, left, and Perry Point. River Input Monitoring (RIM) stations measure river flow, nutrients, and sediment entering the Bay at its nine largest tributaries, of which the Susquehanna is one. Photo by Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program with aerial support by Southwings.
Mike Stricker is a citizen scientist who enjoys contributing water quality testing and data to Chesapeake Water Watch, a joint program of Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the City University of New York. Stricker is pictured with a Secchi disk atop an oyster cage at the end of his dock. The disk, when lowered into the water, measures visibility (water clarity or turbidity) at a range of depths.
Harnessing the power of citizen participatory science and major partnerships to monitor water quality in the Chesapeake Bay
As a child growing up in Eastport during the 1970s, Mike Stricker enjoyed crabbing and swimming in Back Creek. But even at a young age, he was aware of the negative impacts of pollution on water quality, and it bothered him. By the late ’70s, there were frequent warnings about sewage spills from the wastewater plant at the head of Back Creek. Although Stricker was concerned about the decline in water quality—and even testified at a city council meeting with his dad—he felt powerless to bring about change.
However, Stricker continued to care about restoration efforts and sought ways to make a difference. In 1990, he moved to his wife’s family farm, which was located across the street from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater on the Rhode River. Perhaps the proximity of the farm to the organization was serendipitous—setting Stricker on a path that would lead to a new chapter in his life: volunteer and Bay restoration advocate.
“I was blessed to move to Susie’s farm,” Stricker says. “With a large amount of field and forest on the water, we were finally in a position to make a difference. We began growing oysters about 25 years ago for restoration efforts and also began reforestation and watershed restoration as we built our small horse-boarding business. After retiring from the Navy in July 2021, I was ready and able to do more. I learned about Chesapeake Water Watch at a SERC event during summer 2022. The project was the perfect opportunity to become involved with the Bay ecosystem at a deeper level, and I jumped at the opportunity.”
Chesapeake Water Watch
A joint project between SERC and the City University of New York, Chesapeake Water Watch (CWW) is a participatory science project—research that engages volunteers in the scientific process—made possible by NASA’s Citizen Science for Earth Systems Program.
CWW utilizes a scientific process known as “ground truthing,” which involves collecting data on the ground—or, in this case, water—and cross-referencing it with information provided by satellites.
Volunteers, like Stricker, measure Chesapeake Bay water clarity by going out onto the water (at least 100 feet from the shore), opening the free HydroColor app in their smartphone, and taking photos within the app to obtain a water clarity reading. Volunteers can also take water samples if they choose. The samples are processed in the lab to analyze water clarity, colored dissolved organic matter, and in vivo chlorophyll (an indicator of “plant-like” material/algae in the water).
Data is then uploaded to Fieldscope, an open-access database (website: serc.fieldscope.org), where researchers validate the readings to get a better understanding of water clarity conditions. Once the data is processed by the remote sensing team, satellite algorithms (recipes for combining different types of satellite data to estimate variables of interest) are modified—based on the data collected by volunteers.
“Existing satellite algorithms work well for the open ocean, but they don’t work as well in the Bay,” says Patrick Neale, Ph.D., senior research scientist at SERC. “Chesapeake Water Watch allows researchers to become better informed about tidal tributaries, shallow areas of the Bay, and areas that are understudied. The project offers opportunities to take samples in a broader area as well as more coordinated timing of samples. Adjusting the satellite algorithms provides more accurate readings. As we optimize the algorithms, we are essentially ‘training’ the satellites to become more effective. This allows us to see a more accurate picture of what’s happening in the Bay, which will result in improvement over time.”
According to Rachael Mady, participatory science coordinator at SERC, there were 142 accounts and 2,554 observations on Fieldscope at the time of this writing. (And this doesn’t include Riverkeepers and other organizations that interact with their own volunteers.)
“The best science is science that involves a lot of people and perspectives,” Mady says. “Participatory science invites people to become involved in different stages of the scientific process. It invites more—more people, more perspectives, and better science. CWW wouldn’t be possible without volunteers. We hope this project can lead to better tools for monitoring the health of the Bay.”
“Participatory science is a great way to engage with a group of like-minded people,” Stricker adds. “Gathering data on the water allows us to keep tabs on water clarity. Volunteers get a lot of feedback from the scientists at SERC, which really helps us understand the relevance of the work.”
Volunteer Pierce Rosencranz takes a water sample during one of SERC’s “Satellites & Samples” days, a Chesapeake Water Watch youth participation event. Photograph by Victoria Rosencranz.
Secchi disk is dropped into the water near Poplar Island in Talbot County. Photo by Alicia Pimental/Chesapeake Bay Program.
Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program
In addition to measuring water clarity, estimating hypoxia (low levels of oxygen in the water) is also a critical approach to monitoring water quality in the Bay. According to a press release issued by the Chesapeake Bay Program on June 21, 2024, researchers from the Chesapeake Bay Program, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, University of Michigan, and U.S. Geological Survey predicted this year’s dead zone in the Bay to be just above the long-term average taken between 1985 and 2023. Despite above-average rainfall in spring 2024, which led to relatively high water flows entering the Bay from around the watershed, nutrient pollution held at about the long-term average. This forecast is good news, as it shows that nutrient management has helped prevent the occurrence of a larger dead zone.
A dead zone is an area of little to no oxygen that forms when excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) enter the water through polluted runoff and fuel the growth of algae blooms, which remove oxygen from the water when they die and decompose. The resulting hypoxic conditions, or “dead zones,” can suffocate marine life and decrease available habitat.
According to the data, stream and river flows to the Chesapeake Bay recorded from January to May 2024 were 63 percent higher than the previous year—and 23 percent higher than the long-term average—due to higher-than-average precipitation. Based on this data, researchers estimate that the total annual hypoxic volume for the Bay in 2024 will be just 4 percent higher than the historic long-term average.
“What the public sees when we say that the forecast is expected to be 4 percent above average is a very specific result,” says Peter Tango, Ph.D., Chesapeake Bay monitoring coordinator, U.S. Geological Survey at the Chesapeake Bay Program office. “But the science is not absolute. Our forecast is expected to fall within a range of possible answers, and 4 percent is the most likely value. But we look at this value and say that we expect that it could be 4 percent, plus or minus, some amount.”
According to researchers, the slightly above-average hypoxia forecast indicates that management efforts to keep nutrient runoff out of the Bay watershed are having the “desired effect.” Targeted actions, such as upgraded wastewater treatment plants, agricultural practices to reduce the use of excess fertilizers, and stormwater ponds near development and urban areas, are reducing runoff. However, the outlook must continue to take into account factors such as weather conditions and climate change.
SERC intern Elizabeth Gaudlip takes a water sample from the Rhode River during an early phase of Chesapeake Water Watch. Photograph by Kristen Goodhue/Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.
SERC intern Ryan Kim tests the Hydrocolor app on his phone on the South River, as part of the Chesapeake Water Watch project. Photograph by Nancy Merrill/Arundel Rivers Federation.
“The science suggests that a really important time of the year for nutrients to flow into the Bay and affect the deep-water summer oxygen conditions is from January to May,” Tango says. “When we use that science to produce a summer forecast that is close to what is measured, that is a good sign. It demonstrates our basic understanding of how the Bay works, which helps inform how we manage it. Effective forecasting provides guidance for decisions about management actions to reduce nutrients in the Bay, improving water quality and overall Bay health.”
Researchers measure oxygen and nutrient levels as part of the Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program, a Bay-wide cooperative effort that includes several major partners and is funded, in part, by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) conducts 8–10 cruises between May and October to track summer hypoxia in the Bay. These findings allow researchers to detect changes in the conditions of the water and identify trends over time.
In addition, the U.S. Geological Survey monitors river flow, nutrients, and sediment entering the Bay at the River Input Monitoring (RIM) stations, which are located on the Bay’s nine largest tributaries (the Appomattox, Choptank, James, Mattaponi, Pamunkey, Patuxent, Potomac, Rappahannock, and Susquehanna rivers). This region represents about 78 percent of the total area of the watershed.
Jay Lazar, left, and a team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration work to retrieve a hypoxia monitoring buoy connected to sensors along inductive wire at the mouth of the Choptank River near Talbot County. The sensors routinely need to be cleared of barnacles that interfere with data collection. Photo by Marielle Scott/Chesapeake Bay Program.
A hypoxia measuring buoy floats in the Choptank River.
“Dissolved oxygen levels are a key measure of Bay health, as sufficient oxygen is needed to support vital fish, crab, and oyster populations, as well as a healthy ecosystem,” says Mark Trice, water quality program manager at the DNR. “Bay monitoring data collected by the Chesapeake Bay Program’s state and federal partners informs us of habitat conditions, advances our knowledge of Bay ecology, and measures the progress of our efforts toward restoration and nutrient reduction goals.”
Monitoring water quality is a critical mission that involves the collective efforts of many organizations and individuals—from major partnerships to volunteers—and scientists are seeing signs of progress. Indeed, participatory science projects, such as Chesapeake Water Watch, and large-scale projects, such as the Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program, are making an impact on water quality.
Neale says. “These include the shallow waters in the inlets and rivers and the deep waters in the middle of the Bay. These environments require different approaches to assess water quality. In the shallows, Chesapeake Water Watch (among other programs) monitors whether the water is clear enough for grasses to grow. In deep water, the Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program monitors hypoxia that eventually leads to ‘dead zones.’ Both low water clarity and hypoxia are critical issues, which can be prevented by protecting the Bay.”
Special thanks to Kristen Goodhue, Public Affairs Specialist, SERC and Rachel Felver, Director of Communications, Chesapeake Bay Program.
An osprey flies over the Chesapeake Bay in front of the Bay Bridge, seen from Elktonia-Carr’s Beach Heritage Park in Annapolis, on June 21, 2024. Photo by Rhiannon Johnston/Chesapeake Bay Program.
To learn more about Chesapeake Water Watch, visit serc.si.edu/participatory-science/projects/chesapeake-water-watch
Water quality results of the Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program can be viewed on the state’s Eyes on the Bay website at eyesonthebay.dnr.maryland.gov
