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projects >
canal and wetland flow/transport
interaction >
1999 proposal
Project number: 438416500
Continuing Project Work Plan - FY 1999
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION
Project chief:
Raymond W. Schaffranek
Program(s): South Florida Ecosystem Program
Program/Element/Task: South Florida Ecosystem Program/Element
2: Modeling And Support Studies For Southern Inland Coastal Systems Of
South Dade County (Including The Buttonwood Embankment)/Task 7: Canal And
Wetland Flow/Transport Interaction
BACKGROUND NARRATIVES
Project Summary: Canals are a major water-delivery component
of the south Florida ecosystem. They interact with surrounding flow systems
and waterbodies, either directly through structure discharges and levee
overflows or indirectly through levee seepage and leakage, and thereby
quantitatively affect wetland hydroperiods as well as estuarine salinities.
Flows exchanged between interconnected canals, wetlands, and coastal waterbodies
also convey chemical constituents that can affect plant and animal life.
Knowledge of this flow interaction, as well as the timing, extent, and
duration of inundation that it contributes to, is needed to identify and
eliminate any potential adverse effects of altered flow conditions and
transported constituents on vegetation and biota. Comprehensive analytical
tools and methods are needed to assess the effects of nutrient and contaminant
loads from agricultural and urban run-off entering canals and thereby conveyed
into connected wetlands and other adjoining coastal ecosystems. A numerical
model capable of accurately simulating canal and wetland flow interactions,
including coupled solution of constituent transport equations, can be invaluable
in evaluating the effects of altered flows and transported constituents
for development of sound management practices for restoration and preservation
of the south Florida ecosystem.
Project Objectives and Strategy: Water distribution strategies
and reconfiguration plans for the south Florida ecosystem must identify
and account for potential adverse impacts of various system design alternatives.
Coupled flow and transport simulation models are needed to assess the cause-and-effect
relation of flow deliveries on changes in vegetation and biota in order
to provide complete information for the formulation of sound water-management
decisions. A simulation model can be used in advance to evaluate a proposed
plan and thereby detect potential problems prior to implementation or it
can be used as a tool to assess the effectiveness of an implemented system
reconfiguration. The objectives of this project effort are to investigate
the complex mechanisms governing canal and wetland flow transitions and
to formulate highly accurate numerical techniques for the design, development,
and demonstration of a coupled generic model to simulate the hydraulic
and constituent transport properties of such interconnected flow systems.
Project efforts are focused on development of the most representative numerical
techniques and boundary condition approaches to effect coupled solution
of hydrodynamic and transport equations at space and time scales consistent
with the physical processes where transitions from streamlike canal to
wetland sheet flows occur and constituent exchanges take place. Specific
efforts are focused on evaluation, enhancement, and integration of existing
flow and transport models for coupled simulation of canal and wetland interactions
followed by preliminary sensitivity testing and demonstration of model
capabilities using data from the C-111 canal and wetland drainage system.
The C-111 canal between control structures S-18C and S-197, including culvert
connections to northeast wetlands and overbank flows to southwest wetlands,
which were previously directed through levee cuts, is the model study area.
Conventional and newly-developed ground and aerial GPS surveying techniques
are being employed to provide the basic data needed to depict the varied
C-111 drainage basin bathemetry and hypsography at precision levels consistent
with physical processes governing canal and wetland interactions. Acoustic
velocity meters are being used to collect data defining flow patterns in
and along the C-111 overbank area where transitions from canal to sheet
flow occur. These data are being used to test and validate developed numerical
algorithms.
Potential impacts and major products: A model and report documenting
coupling procedures and numerical techniques appropriate for simulation
of flow and transport conditions in interconnected canal and wetland systems,
as typified by the C-111 drainage system, will be produced. Illustrative
examples of model performance developed using the C-111 drainage system
will give insight into the relative effectiveness of the recently completed
levee-removal operation on enhancing the transition from canal to sheet
flow in the southeast portion of Everglades National Park. The model will
also have application potential for evaluating the flow/salinity relationship
and the transport of nutrients and other constituents from the canal through
the Everglades wetlands and subsequently into northeast Florida Bay.
Collaborators, clients: This project will integrate findings
of the Evapotranspiration, Vegetative-Resistance, Wind-Effects, Groundwater/Surface-Water
Exchange, Freshwater-Flows, Land Characteristics from Remote Sensing, and
GIS-Interface projects to tailor the model development to processes relevant
to the south Florida ecosystem. Findings and products of the NMD High Accuracy
Elevation Mapping and GD Florida Bay and Sedimentation projects are relied
on as input for model development and sensitivity testing. A model capable
of accurately simulating canal and wetland interactions is a needed decision-making
tool for water-management agencies such as the NPS, FWS, SFWMD, and USACE
to both plan and evaluate restoration reconfigurations.
WORK PLAN
Time line (FY 1999 to project end): Project activities will focus
on completion of processing and analysis of C-111 land-surface elevation
and flow data, formulation of model coupling algorithms, development of
demonstrative simulation scenarios, and generation of an initial draft
of the model documentation report.
FY 1999 activities: Complete enhancement of individual canal
and wetland modules focusing on development of internal and external boundary-condition
treatment for transport simulation and model coupling. Finalize analysis
of equation-term behavior and evaluation of various formulations and approximation
techniques under varied temporal and spatial scales in conjunction with
development of model-coupling algorithms. Incorporate solution of the salt-balance
equation in the canal model for integration of the density-driven pressure
gradient term. Complete development and demonstration of various simulation
approaches and software systems, including ARC/GIS techniques for interfaces
to remote sensing coverages, for pre-processing model input and post-processing
model results using data from the C-111 drainage system. Finalize analysis
and synthesis of data from the NMD High Accuracy Elevation Mapping project
for determination of land-surface elevation and vegetation grid generation
and from the GD Florida Bay and Sedimentation project for definition of
coastal embayment bathymetry and bottom roughness coefficients. Extension
and refinement of the preliminary C-111 model grid will be conducted to
include synthesis of new survey data, e.g., from the Mangrove-Mapping effort
and for the Royal Palm Ranger Station topographic quadrangles, as they
become available. Compilation of data for the surrounding sub-embayments
and tidal wetlands of Joe Bay, Long Sound, Manatee Bay, and Barnes Sound
will continue. Compilation and processing of boundary-condition, flow velocity
and water-level data for system quantification, as well as model calibration
and verification, will be conducted for execution of various simulation
scenarios to demonstrate model performance in evaluating C-111 canal/wetland
flow exchanges.
FY 1999 deliverables/products: An initial draft report documenting
formulation of the generic model and demon-strating its application to
the C-111 drainage system will result from this work in FY 1999.
FY 1999 outreach: An oral presentation and paper describing the
model development and application is planned for an international conference
on Ecohydraulics to be held in 1999. Project efforts are discussed, both
formally and informally as appropriate, with colleagues from client agencies,
e.g., NPS, FWS, SFWMD, USACE, etc., at joint interagency and professional
society meetings.
New directions or major changes for FY 1999: No new efforts or
directions are planned.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS, OUTCOMES, PRODUCTS, OUTREACH
FY 1998 accomplishments and outcomes, including outreach: Developed
interdisciplinary work plan, coordinated research activities, and conducted
scientific review of the Mangrove Hydrologic Modeling program of the DOL
Critical Ecosystem Studies Initiative, comprised of USGS South Florida
Ecosystem projects.
FY 1998 deliverables, products completed: Abstract on project
efforts prepared and presented at Technical Symposium in Ft. Lauderdale,
August 25-27, 1997. Coordinated and chaired session on Modeling and Support
Studies for Southern Inland and Coastal Systems. Organized technical sessions
for South Florida Ecosystem project presentations at the 1999 Ecohydraulics
Conference. Fact Sheet FS-0193-97, entitled A GIS Interface for Environmental
System Analysis: Application to the South Florida Ecosystem, resulted from
project efforts in FY98.
PROJECT SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS
Names and expertise of key project:
Other required expertise for which no individual has been identified:
Major equipment/facility needs:
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U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Coastal Geology This page is: http://sofia.usgs.gov/proposals/1999/couplingp99.html Comments and suggestions? Contact: Heather Henkel - Webmaster Last updated: 11 October, 2002 @ 09:31 PM (KP) |