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2011 Chesapeake Bay Summer Review
/ecocheck/summer-review/chesapeake-bay/Record high river flow, record high temperatures, and late summer storms characterize summer 2011 condition
- Above average spring flow and extremely high September flow into the Bay
- Above average air temperatures
- Very few sea nettles
- Large volume of anoxia and hypoxia in early summer
- Low dissolved oxygen conditions disappear after Hurricane Irene, then return at end of summer
- High numbers of juvenile striped bass in both Maryland and Virginia
Summer conditions for 2011 were influenced by above average spring river flow into the Bay, hot summer air temperatures, and late summer storms (i.e., Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee). Low dissolved oxygen conditions, which negatively impact the aquatic organisms that live in Chesapeake Bay, were present as early as May and continued through early August. Only a few localized fish kills occurred during summer 2011 and all were associated with extremely high surface water temperatures.
In spring 2011, scientists forecast that above average anoxia (dissolved oxygen ≤ 0.2 mg l-1) and hypoxia (dissolved oxygen ≤ 2.0 mg l-1) would occur in the Chesapeake Bay mainstem during the summer. For a comparison of observed summer conditions to the forecasts made this past spring, visit the Forecast Accuracy page.
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Acknowledgements:
The summer forecast and review was produced with contributions from William Ball (Johns Hopkins University), Mary Anne Evans (University of Michigan), Jeni Keisman (UMCES-Chesapeake Bay Program), Michael Kemp (UMCES-Horn Point Lab), Younjoo Lee (UMCES-Chesapeake Bay Laboratory), Rebecca Murphy (Johns Hopkins University), Charlie Poukish (MD Dept of the Environment), Don Scavia (University of Michigan), Malcolm Scully (Old Dominion University), Maggie Sexton (UMCES-HPL), and Jeremy Testa (UMCES-HPL).