Chesapeake Bay Fluorescence Monitoring Database

This document will describe in detail the components of structure for the
Fluorescence Monitoring Database. While this document is not intended to
provide a complete discussion of the concepts of a relational database, it is
intended to provide the CBPO to provider basic documentation of the database
design.

This Database was designed to hold fluorescence monitoring data. The state of
Maryland and Virginia, in cooperation with the US EPA Chesapeake Bay Program,
has used in vivo fluorescence to measure horizontal and vertical profiles of
chlorophyll a between fixed monitoring stations in the Chesapeake Bay mainstem.
A program measuring fluorescence in the Maryland mainstem and tidal tributaries
has been in place since August 1984. A horizontal transect program from the
during the months of April-September began in the Potomac estuary in August
1990.

The state of Virginia, began a similar fluorescence monitoring program in the
Virginia Chesapeake Bay mainstem in January 1991. The program is designed to
give comprehensive spatial and temporal information on phytoplankton. Sampling
is performed in conjunction with the Maryland phytoplankton, zooplankton and
water quality monitoring programs.