Assessing the Feasibility of Developing a 4-D Interpolator for Use in Impaired Waters Listing Assessment

The CBP has been collecting environmental data (e.g. temperature, dissolved oxygen) at monitoring sites throughout the Bay since 1985. These data provide the potential for developing data products that can be used to inform and guide water quality decisions and policies for Chesapeake Bay. Thus, several groups within the Chesapeake Bay community have expressed an interest in a four-dimensional (4-D) interpolator, and/or have begun efforts to develop one. To obtain guidance and inputs on how to develop a 4-D interpolator and to identify approaches for its use with the Bay monitoring data, the Chesapeake Bay STAC convened an expert panel in December 2007 to review possible approaches for integrating and synthesizing the Bay data sets to provide products that are useful for water quality decisions, and develop an approach for moving forward with analyses of the Bay environmental data sets. The overall purpose of the review was to identify a core set of functionality requirements and to facilitate the coordination of development efforts now ongoing by several groups, so that future products will meet the needs of CBP partners.