HR: 0800h
AN: H31C-0382 INVITED [Abstracts]
TI: The Potomac River Basin and Western Shore Chesapeake Bay Drainage as a Proposed CUAHSI Hydrologic
Observatory
AU: * Miller, A J
EM: MILLER@umbc.edu
AF: UMBC, Geog and Envir Systems;
Civil and Envir Eng, Baltimore, MD 21250
AU: Smith, J A
EM: jsmith@princeton.edu
AF: Princeton U, Civil and Envir Eng, Princeton, NJ 08544
United States
AU: Welty, C
EM: weltyc@umbc.edu
AF: UMBC, Geog and Envir Systems;
Civil and Envir Eng, Baltimore, MD 21250
AU: Eshleman, K N
EM: eshleman@al.umces.edu
AF: U Md Center for Env Sci, Appalachian Lab, Frostburg, MD 21532
United States
AU: Piasecki, M
EM: mp29@drexel.edu
AF: Drexel U, Civil and Envir Eng, Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States
AU: Prestegaard, K L
EM: kpresto@geol.umd.edu
AF: U Md, Geology; Civil and Envir Eng; Biology-Entomology, College Park, MD 20742
AU: Brubaker, K L
EM: klbrubak@eng.umd.edu
AF: U Md, Geology; Civil and Envir Eng; Biology-Entomology, College Park, MD 20742
AU: Palmer, M A
EM: mpalmer@umd.edu
AF: U Md, Geology; Civil and Envir Eng; Biology-Entomology, College Park, MD 20742
AU: Imhoff, P T
EM: imhoff@ce.udel.edu
AF: U Del, Civil and Envir Eng, Newark, DE 19716
United States
AU: Wilcock, P R
EM: wilcock@jhu.edu
AF: Johns Hopkins U, Geog and Envir Eng, Baltimore, MD 21218
United States
AU: Scanlon, T M
EM: tms2v@virginia.edu
AF: U Va, Envir Sciences, Charlottesville, VA 22904
United States
AU: Fisher, G T
EM: gtfisher@usgs.gov
AF: USGS, 8987 Yellow Brick Rd, Baltimore, MD 21237
United States
AU: Shedlock, R J
EM: rjshedlo@usgs.gov
AF: USGS, 8987 Yellow Brick Rd, Baltimore, MD 21237
United States
AU: Gellis, A C
EM: agellis@usgs.gov
AF: USGS, 8987 Yellow Brick Rd, Baltimore, MD 21237
United States
AU: Groffman, P M
EM: groffmanp@ecostudies.org
AF: Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, Millbrook, NY 12545
United States
AU: Belt, K
EM: kbelt@fs.fed.us
AF: NE-USDA Forest Service, TRC, 1000 Hilltop Cir, Baltimore, MD 21250
United States
AU: Toran, L
EM: ltoran@temple.edu
AF: Temple U, Geology, Philadelphia, PA 19122
United States
AU: Traver, R
EM: robert.traver@villanova.edu
AF: Villanova U, Civil and Envir Eng, Villanova, PA 19085
United States
AU: Jordan, T
EM: jordanth@si.edu
AF: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Box 28, Edgewater, MD 21037
United States
AB:
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.
UR: http://www.umbc.edu/cuere/potomac
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects
DE: 1806 Chemistry of fresh water
DE: 1815 Erosion and sedimentation
DE: 1821 Floods
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting