The Chesapeake Bay

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Wednesday, 18 October 2006, 06:54 CDT Download full size image

This cropped image, shows the Chesapeake Bay, in Maryland and Virginia. The larger MODIS image it is cropped from, acquired by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite, shows the mid-atlantic region of the US eastern coast, on October 9, 2006.

More than 150 rivers and Streams drain into the Chesapeake Bay. The main part of the Bay is 455 miles long, from the Susquehanna River in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south. At its narrowest point near Annapolis, Maryland, the Bay is 4 miles wide; at its widest point, near the mouth of the Potomac River, it is 30 miles wide.

There are several major citys on or near the Chesapeake, including Baltimore, visible as a large light splotch near the top center of the image, and Washington DC, another light splotch, south of Baltimore and further east of the Bay. The Potomac River runs from DC towards the Bay, and is a light green color.

The many highways that connect Baltimore and DC are also visible as light lines between the two cities. Across the Bay from these cities is what as known as the "Eastern Shore" of Maryland, which shares the Delmarva Penninsula with Delaware in the east, and Virginia in the south.

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