IMPACT OF HURRICANE ISABEL ON THE WATER PROPERTIES OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AREA

On 18 September 2003, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument onboard the NASA satellite Aqua (EOS PM) and Terra (EOS AM) took stunning pictures of Hurricane Isabel's landfall over the U.S. East Coast. Satellite images of the Chesapeake Bay region before and after landfall show important qualitative changes in the water properties due to the huge amount of sediment delivered to the Bay, extending far beyond the coastal region (more than 100 km). The impact on the ecosystem of this rare phenomenon deserves additional analysis. Remote sensing data from the Terra and Aqua system can be inverted to estimate key water properties (chlorophyll, transparency, sediment loading), which can be validated using the network of measurements taken in the Chesapeake Bay area. Once validated, the remote sensing products can be used to estimate the change in water properties up to twice a day and over the entire area. In particular, comparison of the water properties before and after the landfall of Isabel provides a quantitative estimate of this hurricane's impact on selected water properties. Using the co-analysis of precipitation measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) sensors, the basic factors responsible for changes in the water properties in the Chesapeake are isolated.