Program: FRAGILE ENVIRONMENTS
Project Title: Canal and Wetland Flow/Transport Interaction
Location of Study Area: South Florida Study Area
Project Start Date: January 1995
Project End Date: September 1999
Project Number: 438416500
Project Chief: Raymond W. Schaffranek
Region/Division/Team/Section: Eastern/Water Resources/National Research Program
E-mail:rws@usgs.gov
Phone: (703) 648-5891
Fax: (703) 648-5484
Mailing Address: National Center, MS 430, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20192
Program Element(s)/Task(s) SOUTH FLORIDA ECOSYSTEM PROGRAM/Element 1: MODELING AND SUPPORT STUDIES FOR SOUTHERN INLAND COASTAL SYSTEMS OF SOUTH DADE COUNTY (INCLUDING THE BUTTONWOOD EMBANKMENT)/Task 8: Canal and Wetland Flow/Transport Interaction
Panel:
Collaborators, Clients:

Collaborators: This project will integrate findings of the Evapotranspiration, Vegetative-Resistance, Wind-Effects, Freshwater-Flows and GIS-Interface projects of the South Florida Ecosystem Program to tailor model developments to south Florida ecosystem needs. Findings and products of the NMD High Accuracy Elevation Mapping and GD Florida Bay and Sedimentation projects are relied upon as input for model development and sensitivity testing.

Clients: A model capable of accurately simulating canal and wetland interactions is a needed decision-making tool for water-management agencies such as the SFWMD, NPS, and COE. Models, presently in use by several client agencies, will be substantially enhanced with new capabilities and newly-developed user interfaces stemming from this project effort.

BACKGROUND NARRATIVES

Project Justification: 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. As such they provide a primary flow path for nutrients and(or) contaminants dissolved in the water and, thereby, represent a potential dilemma for water-management officials in their efforts to restore the Everglades ecosystem to pre-drainage conditions. Coupled flow and transport simulation modeling capabilities 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. Water distribution strategies and reconfiguration plans for the south Florida ecosystem must identify and account for potential adverse impacts of various system design alternatives. A simulation model can be used in advance to assess a proposed plan and thereby detect potential problems prior to implementation.

Project Objectives: The objectives of this project effort are to investigate canal and wetland interactions and to formulate appropriate numerical techniques for the design, development, and demonstration of coupled generic models to simulate the hydraulics properties and constituent transport mechanisms of the south Florida ecosystem. Project efforts are focused on development of numerical techniques and boundary condition approaches to effect coupled solution of hydrodynamic and transport equations at space and time scales consistent with processes controlling canal and wetland interactions.

Overall Strategy, Study Design, and Planned Major Products: Specific efforts are focused on evaluation and enhancement of existing flow and transport models for coupled simulation of canal and wetland interactions and preliminary sensitivity testing and demonstration of model capabilities using available 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 GPS surveying techniques are being employed to depict the canal and wetland system at accuracy's consistent with mechanisms controlling canal and wetland interactions. A model and report documenting coupling procedures and model enhancements appropriate for simulation of flow and transport conditions in interconnected canal and wetland systems, as typified by the C-111 drainage basin, will be the major products.

WORK PLAN

Timeline: The major effort planned for FY 1998-99 will be integration of the enhanced canal and wetland modules in a common framework to provide coupled simulation capability. This will include formulation and development of the final canal-wetland linkage component. Particular emphasis will be directed at evaluation of the sensitivity of the wetting/drying algorithm of the wetland model and wind-stress treatment in both the canal and wetland models. Synthesis of findings of other projects, .e.g. Evapotranspiration, Wind Effects, and Vegetative Resistance, into individual canal and wetland modules will be undertaken as results become available from these process-study efforts. Data from the C-111 drainage system will be collected, as needed, compiled and used for model testing and system verification.

Planned Deliverables/Products: Final product will be a report documenting individual model revisions and coupling procedures. Intermittent products are planned in the form of scientific papers submitted for publication in peer-reviewed Journals and conference proceedings of professional societies. Papers-on the order of one per year-will be prepared and submitted for publication as findings warrant and in accord with conference schedules. Reprints of Journal and conference-proceedings papers will be provided to client agencies via mail or distributed at joint agency meetings as appropriate.

Planned Outreach Activities: A web site is being developed to facilitate communication of model developments and documentation to client agencies. Computer demonstrations of GUI and GIS model interfaces are planned for presentation at annual seminars and workshops. A collaborative project effort has been proposed with SFWMD scientists to investigate equation-term effects and a model workshop has been discussed with SFWMD. Project efforts are routinely discussed at joint meetings with client agencies, e.g., NPS, SFWMD, COE.

Prior Accomplishments in Proposed Area of Work:

New Directions, Expansion of Continuing Project (if applicable): Expanded efforts are being undertaken in conjunction with the SICS model development project of the DOI Critical Ecosystem Studies initiative in support of the ongoing South Florida ecosystem restoration effort.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS, OUTCOMES, PRODUCTS, OUTREACH

Deliverables, Products Completed: An enhanced version of the canal model with a new GUI for Windows-based systems is being prepared for distribution to client agencies via the Internet. The new interim version of the model will be made available for FTP distribution via the Internet through the USGS/WRD Hydrologic Application Software Support unit

NEEDS

Names of Key Project Staff:
FY 1998 - FY 1999:
Raymond W. Schaffranek
Philip M. Shackelford
David W. Stewart
Lisa M. Traub
(Summer Student)

Major Equipment/Facility Needs: A secured equipment storage facility with extended access hours is needed in the immediate vicinity of the project study area.

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