Using Satellite-Derived Total Suspended Matter Data to Evaluate the Impacts of Tributary-Scale Oyster Restoration on Water Clarity

Using water clarity measurements from satellites at spatial scales close to that of the oyster restoration efforts, we explored whether detection of change in satellite-derived water clarity could be linked to the large-scale oyster restoration effort, along with other responses from improved clarity such as increases in submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). We compared satellite-derived total suspended matter (TSM) and oyster biomass data sets in locations of different oyster management strategies, and we determined that the satellite data are useful in evaluating and identifying trends at a spatial scale relevant to large-scale oyster restoration and are useful in model analysis. Further, we show a spatial correlation between the location of the most mature restored oyster reefs and decreased TSM over time. 2022 NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office Water clarity Oyster reef restoration Remote sensing Sediment NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) OHC (Office of Habitat Conservation) NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) STAR (Center for Satellite Applications and Research) Submitted https://doi.org/10.25923/7dqh-6825 Public Domain 2286