South Florida Information Access - Virtual Tour

Lake Okeechobee Jonathan Dickinson SP Blowing Rocks Fern Forest Controlling the Waters Loxahatchee West Lake/Anne Kolb Alligator Alley Big Cypress Corkscrew Swamp Fakahatchee Biscayne NP Everglades NP Florida Bay/Keys 10,000 Islands/Rookery Bay Ecosystems Glossary Photo Gallery About this site SOFIA Home

Map showing location of Biscayne National Park. Biscayne National Park is located along the southeast edge of Florida, south of Miami. Visitors can enter the park by boat or by car at Convoy Point, which is located off of US 1. At Convoy Point, you can look around the park's Visitor Center, rent canoes, or sign up for a boat tour, snorkel trip or scuba dive. Due to proposals by a developer to build on the Biscayne Keys, the area was established as a national monument in 1968. It was designated a national park in 1980. Biscayne National Park consists of mangroves that line the shoreline, the waters of Biscayne Bay, coral reefs and undeveloped key islands. Of the park's 180,000 acres, 95% is underwater. For more information, please visit the Biscayne National Park website. A photo gallery is available for this page. Biscayne Bay Biscayne Bay is an estuary, a place where freshwater and salt water meet. Freshwater flow from the land supplies the bay with nutrients. The northernmost Florida Keys lie at the eastern edge of Biscayne Bay. Coral reefs lie on the Atlantic side of the islands. Facing east, a panoramic view of Biscayne Bay. The mainland is seen at far right. [larger image] [larger image] Looking northeast over the open waters of Biscayne Bay, the vast expanse is only interrupted by keys and an occasional boater. IPIX - Biscayne Bay   Stop to look at the rocky man-made Spoiled Island. Then turn and you'll see the clouds reflected in the waters on the bay-side horizon. Navigate around this 360° view of Biscayne Bay.   Note: You will need the free IPIX viewer to view this 360° image   Mangroves Looking north over Biscayne Bay at an island (at left) and at mangroves that line the shoreline (at back). [larger image] The island seen here is one of two man-made islands, the Spoiled Islands, found just south of the Mowry Canal. The islands were made sometime in the vicinity of the 1940's, when the Mowry Canal was formed. The mangroves that line the shoreline help protect the bay's water by trapping eroding soil and pollutants from the inland. Early settlers to South Florida regarded mangrove forests as being useless, mosquito-infested, uninhabitable lands. Today, ecologists realize their important role in coastal ecosystems. Mangrove leaves, trunks and branches fall into the water and are transformed into detritus, which is the basis of an elaborate food chain. Mangroves provide protected habitat, breeding grounds and nursery areas to many terrestrial and marine animals. Mangroves also provide shoreline protection from wind, waves and floods. [larger image] The mostly mangrove shoreline located a short distance northwest of the Convoy Point Visitor Center. The Mowry Canal (at far left) releases mainland waters into Biscayne Bay. Seagrasses and Algae Lush seagrass beds form grassy undersea meadows throughout Biscayne Bay. Seagrasses are flowering plants that have roots, stems and flowers. They produce oxygen and need clear water that allows the sunlight to reach them. Seagrass beds provide hiding places and food for many different sea animals including the Florida spiny lobster, shrimp, fish, sea turtles and manatees. [larger image] [larger image] [larger image] IPIX - Biscayne Bay   Look around Biscayne Bay and note how shallow and clear the waters are here. Many kinds of fish, starfish, sponges, crabs, soft corals and other marine plants and animals live in Biscayne Bay. Navigate around this 360° view of Biscayne Bay.   Note: You will need the free IPIX viewer to view this 360° image   Related SOFIA Information Below we have listed science projects and publications for studies that are being conducted, or have been conducted, in the Biscayne Bay Area. Follow these links to read about each project and to see project-related publications and data. Science Projects: Abnormal Groundwater Conditions and Network Redesign Project Color Infrared Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles for the South Florida Ecosystem Determination of Nutrient Loads to East Coast Canals Ecosystem History of Biscayne Bay and the Southeast Coast Evaluation Of Methods To Determine Groundwater Seepage Beneath Levee 30, Miami-Dade County, Florida Freshwater Flows to the East Coast Ground Water Cooperative Program Groundwater Discharge to Biscayne Bay Interagency Synthesis of Scientific Information, South Florida Quantification of Ground-Water Seepage Beneath Levee 31N, Miami-Dade County, Florida Remote Sensing of Water Turbidity and Sedimentation in Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay South Florida Information Access Related Publications: The Florida Everglades Geologic Map of the State of Florida A GIS Interface for Environmental System Analysis: Application to the South Florida Ecosystem Hydrogeology of the Gray Limestone Aquifer in Southern Florida (from the Water Resources of Florida website) Relations of a Heterozoan Carbonate-Particle Association to Aquifer Characteristics in a Pliocene Mixed Siliciclastic-Carbonate Ramp (Tamiami Formation), Southern Florida South Florida Ecosystem Program The South Florida Environment: A Region Under Stress USGS Science for Restoration of South Florida: The South Florida Ecosystem Program U.S. Geological Survey Program on the South Florida Ecosystem: 2000 Proceedings U.S. Geological Survey Program on the South Florida Ecosystem Proceedings of the South Florida Restoration Science Forum Water Quality in Southern Florida (from the Water Resources of the United States website) Water Resources of Southeastern Florida TOP

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Coastal Geology
This page is: http://sofia.usgs.gov /virtual_tour/biscaynebay/index.html
Comments and suggestions? Contact: Heather Henkel - Webmaster (hhenkel@usgs.gov)
Last updated: April 05, 2007 @ 01:56 PM (HSH)