IAN Seminar Series

Chesapeake Bay support a diverse assemblage of 10-15 species of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) whose distributions are generally constrained by salinity. Two species are found in the higher salinity areas with the remaining species found in the lower salinity and freshwater areas of the region. Because of their sensitivity to water quality changes, SAV are being used by resource managers as a sentinel group to reflect management efforts to improve water quality in this region.An annual aerial SAV monitoring program has been conducted throughout the Chesapeake Bay and the Delmarva Coastal Bays on an annual basis from 1984 through 2015, except for 1988. Black and white photography was acquired at a scale of 1:24,000, following acquisition timing guidelines that optimize visibility of SAV beds with digital imagery used in 2015. Approximately 170 flight lines were flown each year between May and October, yielding over 2,000 photographs or digital images.Since the 1984, SAV has exhibited long-term (decadal) in