Suspended-sediment transport is a critical element governing the geomorphology of tidal marshes. Marshes rely both on organic material and inorganic sediment deposition to maintain their elevation relative to sea-level. In wetlands near the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, MD, portions of the salt marsh have been subsiding relative to sea level since the early 20th century. Other portions of the marsh have been successful at maintaining elevation. The USGS undertook measurements of suspended-sediment concentration in the tidal channels in order to understand the magnitude of suspended-sediment concentrations, the sediment-transport mechanisms, and relative differences between the two areas of the marsh. We deployed optical turbidity sensors and acoustic velocity meters at multiple sites over two periods in 2011. The time-series of oceanographic data collected during those field studies, including velocity, depth, turbidity, salinity, water temperature, and pH are presented here. For more information on the field operations associated with data collection: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2011-017-FA; https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2011-029-FA; https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2011-044-FA; https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2011-050-FA;

This data release includes metrics from the Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA) from the Southeast Region for habitat stressors related to water-quality and habitat substrate. The goals of RSQA are to characterize multiple water-quality factors that are stressors to aquatic life ‐ contaminants, nutrients, sediment, and streamflow alteration – and to develop a better understanding of the relation of these stressors to ecological conditions in streams throughout the region. In order to characterize water-quality variables and stream-habitat measurements as an aggregation of multiple measurements over a sampling period, and in support of ecological stressor modelling, metrics (summary statistics or indices) were computed from individual results by site using consistent methods over a consistent time frame. Water-quality metrics are based on discrete samples as well as long-term deployed passive samplers.

We collated existing quantitative data on avian dietary composition of 58 waterbird species that make use of the Chesapeake Bay. From this database, we quantified the relative importance of forage taxa to the diets of each waterbird species. This data will enable us to develop a comprehensive suite of forage taxa indicators whose abundance and distributions can be monitored as a proxy for Chesapeake Bay ecosystem health. These data support a paired USGS authored publication.

This data release contains three 10-meter resolution GeoTIFFs representing 10-meter (35-foot), 30-meter (100-foot) and 90-meter (300-foot) riparian buffer zones along shorelines, rivers, streams, and other lotic (flowing) water features. The layers are binary, where the value of each cell represents the presence or absence of the buffer zone. In addition, the data release contains shapefile layers that document the extent of corrections that were made to the data to address errors in the stream network (see processing steps section for more details).. The methodology combines various fine-scale input layers, including a 1:24k stream network and Chesapeake Bay 1-meter resolution Land Use/Land Cover to approximate banks of stream channels and waterbodies to better define the riparian zone (CBP, 2023; Hopkins and others, 2020). For shorelines and large rivers, the width of the buffer zone (10, 30, 90 meters) begins at the banks, where land meets water. For finer scale (1:24k) stream features, the buffer zone includes both water and riparian land area, where the buffered width begins at the estimated top of bank. Each 10-meter resolution riparian buffer zone GeoTIFF dataset is contained in an individual .zip file (CBW_riparian_10m_24k_2024.zip, CBW_riparian_30m_24k_2024.zip, CBW_riparian_90m_24k_2024.zip). The shapefile layers that contain the data correction extents are available in the correction_layers.zip file.

This data release links habitat assessment sites to both the NHDPlus Version 2 and NHDPlus High Resolution Region 02 networks using the hydrolink methodology. Linked habitat sites are those compiled by the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) during creation of the Chesapeake Bay Basin-wide Index of Biotic Integrity (Chessie BIBI) for benthic macroinvertebrates (https://datahub.chesapeakebay.net/LivingResources). The data set contains a unique sample identifier created by ICPRB, survey program, coordinates of sample, linked V2 COMID and HR Permanent Identifier, and information regarding uncertainty in the attribution. We strongly caution the use of sampling points with attribution uncertainty to avoid spurious attribution of geospatial data to benthic macroinvertebrate samples.

This dataset provides analysis results for status values representing the period of 2015 through 2017 for six indicators of river and stream condition in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Status (condition at a point in time) was calculated yearly for metrics of the following indicators: stream nutrients and suspended sediment, salinity, temperature, hydromorphology, streamflow and biological assemblages. These yearly status values were then averaged to create mean status values for each indicator and metric. The mean status values were then used to score indicator sites as high quality, low quality, or intermediate quality. Additionally, the relationship between mean status values and three land use/land cover types (developed, agriculture and urban) were analyzed via simple linear regression. Detailed data preparation information, analytical methods and results are presented and discussed in the associated Scientific Investigative Report (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20255072).

Waterbird species counts in three Selected Areas of the CEWH’s Flow-MER program (the Murrumbidgee River, Gwydir river system and Junction of the Warrego and Darling Rivers. Counts are recorded from a representative part of the wetland and the proportion sampled is recorded. The CEWH’s Flow-MER program examines the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan) and is assisting the CEWH to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation is focused in seven Selected Areas: the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. This Flow-MER data set includes and extends the long-term data collected at the same sites during the Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) project (2014-2019). ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and Flow-MER program acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We respect their continuing connection to culture and Country, and we thank them for their knowledge and science and the values reflected in these data. ###Citation CEWH (2024) Waterbird Diversity. Flow-MER Program. Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Sourced from https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/flow-mer-waterbird-diversity on [date-sourced].

Wetland restoration efforts conducted by the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in Louisiana rely on monitoring efforts to determine the efficacy of these efforts. The Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) was developed to assist in a multiple-reference approach that uses aspects of hydrogeomorphic functional assessments and probabilistic sampling for monitoring. The CRMS program includes a suite of approximately 398 sites that encompass the range of hydrological and ecological conditions for each stratum. As part of CRMS, land and water classifications are created from Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangles (DOQQs) approximately every three years at all CRMS sites. A DOQQ is a raster image in which displacement in the image caused by sensor orientation and terrain relief has been removed and combines the image characteristics of a photo with geometric qualities of a map. The DOQQs generated for this project consist of 2021 Color Infrared (CIR) Digital Imagery. These images were classified into land and water categories using a threshold of the near infrared (NIR) band, followed by supervised and unsupervised classification. Initial classification results are then reviewed by multiple image analysts to identify and manually recode errors. The final land-water classifications are intended to serve as both geographic and quantitative assessments of landscape composition on the date of acquisition. Five previous assessments have been conducted (2005, 2008, 2012, 2015/2016, and 2018). Once the program creates enough data points for statistical analyses, these data will be used for land area change rate calculation.