This indicator shows changes in stream water temperature across the Chesapeake Bay region.
The U.S. Geological Survey maintains thousands of stream gauges across the United States. Each gauge measures water levels several times a day, typically every 15 minutes. Field technicians visit each gauging station an average of eight times a year to measure various stream conditions, including water temperature. This indicator shows how average water temperatures throughout the year changed between 1960 and 2014 at 129 stream gauges located across the Chesapeake Bay region. These stations were selected because they had high-quality data for this entire time period.