Real World: NASA and the Chesapeake Bay
Learn how NASA uses Earth observing satellites to monitor conditions in the Chesapeake Bay over time. Information about pollution, eutrophication, land cover and watershed runoff helps water managers enact policies to improve the health of the Bay.
Discussion and writing prompts
1. The Chesapeake Bay is influenced by activities that occur throughout its entire watershed, not just along the shoreline. Why are satellites especially valuable for studying a large, interconnected system like the Chesapeake Bay watershed?
2. Rainfall, land use, and human activities can all affect the health of the Chesapeake Bay. How can actions taken many miles away from the Bay influence its water quality and ecosystems? Choose one activity, such as urban development or farming, and describe how it can affect the movement of water, nutrients, or sediment through the watershed. Explain how changes in one location can have consequences throughout the entire system.
3. NASA collects large amounts of satellite data, but the data alone do not improve the Chesapeake Bay. How do scientists, resource managers, and communities use this information to make decisions that protect natural resources?
Background Information
Grades 3 through 8
- NASA eClips Our World: Phytoplankton – Powering the Ocean Food Web (video)RESOURCE
Grades 3 through 12
- NASA eClips Ask SME: Oceanographer Dr. Ivona Cetinić (video)
Grades 4 through 12
- NASA eClips Real World: Phytoplankton, Microscopic Drifters (video)
Grades 5 through 12
- NASA Chesapeake Bay from Space (website)
- NASA The Changing Chesapeake (video)
- NOAA Chesapeake Bay (webpage)
Grades 6 through 12
- NASA LandSat (website)
- NASA Earth Observatory Studying Chesapeake Bay from Above (website)
- NASA Earth Observatory The Chesapeake Bay Watershed: Still Cloudy, With a Chance of Clearing (website)
Activities
Grades 3 through 12
- GLOBE Hydrosphere (webpage)
- Chesapeake Bay Foundation Resources for Teachers and Students (webpage)
- Chesapeake Bay Foundation Student Investigations and Activities (webpage)
- NOAA Chesapeake Bay Activity Book (e-book)
- Bay Backpack (webpage)
- NOAA Estuary Education (webpage)
Grades 4 through 6
- USGS Our Water, Our Lives: The Chesapeake Bay Watershed (webpage)
Grades 5 through 12
- NASA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Tour (interactive)