The Potomac River Basin and Western Shore Chesapeake Bay Drainage as a Proposed CUAHSI Hydrologic Observatory

A long-term hydrologic observatory is proposed for an area encompassing the Potomac River Basin and the basins that form the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay from the Gunpowder River on the north to the Rappahannock River on the south. The area is approximately 52,000 sq km and spans five physiographic provinces, with total relief of about 1200 m, and includes parts of MD, VA, PA, WV, and DC. The Potomac and adjacent mid-Atlantic drainage are characterized by a high frequency of floods and droughts, with attendant concerns about flood hazards and about the reliability of water supply. As of 2000, the population of the proposed study area was 8.26 million, with the highest density in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan region. Land use is 45 percent forested, 32 percent agriculture, 5.7 percent developed, and 4.8 percent open water. Heterogeneous natural landscape patterns have been influenced by the legacy of four centuries of human disturbance, including a wave of deforestation, agricultural land use, and land abandonment leading to reforestation contemporaneous with some of the most rapidly expanding urban areas in the U.S. A wealth of existing instrumented field sites forms a network of resources that will be woven together as part of this effort, including: the USGS NAWQA study in the Potomac River Basin; the NSF-funded Baltimore LTER; USDA-ARS sites in Beltsville, MD; the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin's work in overseeing management of the Potomac River; the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's field sites, and active field sites of major research universities located in the region. This effort represents a significant partnership with local district offices of the U.S. Geological Survey. This poster presents study area attributes, preliminary study design, and a proposed core data program. The program is designed to attract researchers in the following areas of scientific inquiry: (1) orographic precipitation mechanisms, runoff generation, and groundwater recharge; (2) sediment sources, storage, and delivery, floodplain processes, and fate of sediment-associated contaminants; (3) biogeochemical cycling and sources and sinks of nutrients and toxic contaminants in the landscape from non-tidal uplands to estuarine waters; (4) defining water needs to support ecosystems, and moving the science of restoration to an integrated biophysical enterprise; and (5) urban development, infrastructure, and consequent transformation of hydrologic landscapes and processes.