Seasonal Summaries

The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) develops seasonal summaries of water quality parameters in the Chesapeake Bay. The summaries include discussion of how the previous season’s water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and salinity compare to average, as well as how any anomalies might affect living resources in the Bay. 

These summaries are shared with resource managers at state and regional levels, and are intended to contribute to ecosystem-based management. They include data from CBIBS buoys as well as the NOAA CoastWatch satellite program. Information from the summaries is also included in the annual Mid-Atlantic State of the Ecosystem Report, developed by NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Each season (winter is December-February; spring is March-May; summer is June-August; and fall is September-November), a scientific summary is developed and an overview is posted in the Buoy News on this site’s home page. Here’s a link to the summaries and overviews.