Figure 1. Photograph of the Harney River monitoring station in 1960. [larger image]

The health of estuaries and bays along the mangrove zone of southwest coast of Everglades National Park (ENP) is dependent on the amount and quality of fresh water the area receives. For decades this area has been affected by management practices that control freshwater flows across Tamiami Trail and determine water budgets of ENP. Until recent years however, limited hydrologic information has been collected in the area, making it difficult to understand and describe the magnitude of the effects along the mangrove zone.

From 1960 to 1969, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a study of tides and flow in coastal rivers (fig. 1) along the Shark River Slough system to aid in the calculation of water budgets for ENP. In 1996, the USGS initiated a second hydrologic study to determine the flow and nutrient characteristics of some of the same tidal rivers of the Shark River Slough system, and in 2001 the study was expanded to cover the area from Whitewater Bay to Everglades City (fig. 2). USGS hydrologic data from these stations and others in nearby coastal marshes, along with hydrologic data from the Marine Monitoring Network of ENP, can now be used to describe the flow and water-quality characteristics of estuaries along the southwest coast of ENP.

Figure 2. Location of monitoring stations for coastal rivers along the southwest coast of Everglades National Park. [larger image]

Figure 3. (A and B) Daily salinity values for rivers along the southwest coast of Everglades National Park, and (C) for a transect along the Shark River System. [click on images above for larger version]

The primary goals of the current study are to describe the salinity patterns along the southwest coast of ENP in relation to freshwater inflows to the estuaries and tidal exchange with the Gulf of Mexico, provide support to the USGS Tides and Inflows in the Mangroves of the Everglades model (TIME), and to aid programs such as Everglades Long Term Ecological Research (LTER).

Continuous salinity data from the main rivers and along transects from freshwater wetlands to the Gulf of Mexico (fig. 3) will be useful for describing both spatial and seasonal variation of salinity throughout the study area. The data also will help scientists and managers determine how salinity patterns may change in response to restoration efforts affecting freshwater deliveries to ENP and Big Cypress National Preserve.

Contact: Patino, Eduardo, epatino@usgs.gov, Soderqvist, Lars, lsoderq@usgs.gov, Thompson, Craig, cthompso@usgs.gov, U.S. Geological Survey, 3745 Broadway, Suite 301, Fort Myers, FL, 33901, Phone: 239-275-8448, Fax 239-275-6820, primary conference topic: hydrology and hydrologic modeling.

(This abstract was taken from the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (GEER) Open File Report 03-54)

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