Chesapeake Bay River Input Monitoring Network 1985-2018: Short- and long-term trends

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended-sediment loads, and changes in loads, in major rivers across the Chesapeake Bay watershed have been calculated using monitoring data from the Chesapeake Bay River Input Monitoring Network (RIM) stations for the period 1985 through 2018. Nutrient and suspended-sediment loads and changes in loads were determined by applying a weighted regression approach called WRTDS (Weighted Regression on Time, Discharge, and Season). The load results represent the total mass of nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment that was exported from each of the RIM watersheds. To determine the trend in loads, the annual load results are flow normalized to integrate out the year-to-year variability in river discharge. The trend in load is derived from the flow-normalized load timeseries and represents the change in load resulting from changes in sources, delays associated with storage or transport of historical inputs, and (or) implemented management actions.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
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identifier USGS:5cc1c97de4b09b8c0b746e70
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modified 20200827
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publisher U.S. Geological Survey
publisher_hierarchy Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
resource-type Dataset
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theme {geospatial}
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • chesapeake-bay-watershed
  • ckan
  • delaware
  • geo
  • geoss
  • load-analysis
  • maryland
  • national
  • new-york
  • nitrogen
  • north-america
  • nutrients
  • pennsylvania
  • phosphorus
  • rivers
  • suspended-sediment
  • trends
  • united-states
  • usgs-5cc1c97de4b09b8c0b746e70
  • virginia
  • washington-dc
  • water-quality
  • weighted-regression
  • west-virginia
  • wrtds
isopen False
license_id notspecified
license_title License not specified
maintainer Douglas L. Moyer
maintainer_email dlmoyer@usgs.gov
metadata_created 2025-11-21T01:10:04.835406
metadata_modified 2025-11-21T01:10:04.835411
notes Nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended-sediment loads, and changes in loads, in major rivers across the Chesapeake Bay watershed have been calculated using monitoring data from the Chesapeake Bay River Input Monitoring Network (RIM) stations for the period 1985 through 2018. Nutrient and suspended-sediment loads and changes in loads were determined by applying a weighted regression approach called WRTDS (Weighted Regression on Time, Discharge, and Season). The load results represent the total mass of nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment that was exported from each of the RIM watersheds. To determine the trend in loads, the annual load results are flow normalized to integrate out the year-to-year variability in river discharge. The trend in load is derived from the flow-normalized load timeseries and represents the change in load resulting from changes in sources, delays associated with storage or transport of historical inputs, and (or) implemented management actions.
num_resources 2
num_tags 27
title Chesapeake Bay River Input Monitoring Network 1985-2018: Short- and long-term trends