On board the RV Marion Dufresne, a French research vessel, a deck worker gets ready to drop the giant Calypso corer, a sampling device that can drive deep into the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay. Photograph, Jenney Hall.
A 2012 aerial shot of the reconstructed Poplar Island in the Chesapeake Bay shows the island's perimeter, which consists of boulders piled 10 feet high. A network of dikes separates marsh sections or 'cells.' Two natural islands, Jefferson and Coaches, lie to the right of Poplar. Photograph, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), including this one lying on a log near Ithaca, New York, are common across the eastern United States, including in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Photograph, John Cancalosi.
Billy Callaway (at the tiller, standing behind one of his workers) is the third generation of his family to fish for striped bass out of pound nets in the Chesapeake and its tributaries. Photograph, David Harp.
an underwater fisheye-lens shot gives a dramatic view of bay grasses and a fisherman in the Susquehanna Flats. In recent years underwater grassbeds have suddenly expanded across the Flats, the broad, shoal-like shallows at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. Grass species returning to the Flats include redhead grass, coontail, watermilfoil, water stargrass, and wild celery. Photograph, Octavio Aburto.
Full of twists and turns that stand out in this satellite image, the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed make up a grand and complex ecosystem. Scientists in the region are working to represent that entire environment using computer simulations, efforts that are guiding a new push to clean up the Bay. Photograph, NASA Scientific Visualization Studio.
Blue crabs big enough for the "basket trade." These crabs can be sold for steaming and eating at summertime crab feasts. You can tell these are female crabs: they "paint their nails red." Photograph, Michael W. Fincham.
Did Algonquin tribes call the Chesapeake a "great shellfish bay?" Scholars disagree on the origins of the Bay's name, but scientists agree that the waters of the Chesapeake were once the greatest oyster grounds in the world. A new generation of oyster farmers could face a new challenge if acid levels rise in the estuary. Photograph by Michael W. Fincham.
The Conowingo Dam opened its gates to alleviate flooding on September 9, 2011, as Tropical Storm Lee swept through the area. Photograph by Patrick Semansky, Associated Press.
