Sediment floods Chesapeake Bay when it pours

A picture is indeed worth a thousand words. The satellite photo at left shows better than anyone can describe how heavy rains earlier this month flushed enough sediment into the Chesapeake Bay watershed to turn much of it a creamy brown.

A tip of the green eyeshade to BayDaily blogger Tom Pelton for spotlighting this particularly muddy image. It was too good not to share.

The photo, taken March 17, came on the heels of a downpour that dumped two inches of rain across the bay region. State officials reported that the flood of mud set new lows for water clarity in places.

With all that sediment doubtless came a huge pulse of phosphorus and nitrogen. Besides blocking out sunlight needed by underwater grasses, those pollutants are likely to feed massive algae blooms in spring and summer. They could also worsen the spread of the oxygen-starved dead zone across the bottom of the bay, stressing fish, crabs and shellfish.

For more on the effects of late winter and early spring rains, go here.

You can see other daily snapshots from the sky, and monitor water quality readings at the "Eyes on the Bay" web page of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.