projects > southwest florida coastal and wetland systems monitoring > work plan
U.S. Geological Survey Greater Everglades Science Initiative (Place-Based Studies)Fiscal Year 2004 Project Work PlanA. GENERAL INFORMATION: Project Title: Southwest Florida Coastal and Wetland Systems Monitoring
Other Investigator(s): Lars Soderqvist, Craig Thompson
Project Summary: Hydrologic information throughout the Everglades ecosystem is key to the development of restoration strategies and for future evaluation of restoration results. There are significant hydrologic information gaps throughout the Everglades wetlands and estuaries that need to be addressed, particularly along Florida's southwest coast. Among these gaps are flow, water level, and salinity data. This project, in conjunction with the Everglades National Park's (ENP) marine monitoring network, will provide water level, salinity, and flow information at key points within the mangrove zone along the southwest coast of ENP. Hydrodynamic modelers of the Everglades, Florida Bay, southwest coast estuaries, and other adjacent marine systems, will use these data to calibrate and verify models describing flow patterns throughout ENP and Big Cypress National Preserve (south of Tamiami Trail). The study area encompasses the estuarine and wetland regions from White Water Bay near Flamingo to Everglades City. The results of this study will provide information on freshwater flows and salinity trends, effects of weather systems of flow patterns, and on how Everglades Restoration projects affect the freshwater inflows and water quality of the estuarine ecosystem. Project Objectives and Strategy: The objectives of this project are, (1) to describe the salinity patterns of estuaries along the southwest coast of ENP, in relation to freshwater inflows to the estuaries and tidal exchange with the Gulf of Mexico; and (2) to provide support for the USGS Tides and Inflows in the Mangroves of the Everglades (TIME) model, the SIRENIA Manatee research project, and programs like the Everglades Long Term Ecological Research (LTER). Additionally, other federal and state agencies, universities, and local institutions conducting research in the area will be give access to all the information generated though this study. This study will quantify surface water discharge, describe hydrodynamic characteristics of estuarine rivers of southwest Everglades National Park, and provide necessary information for the development and calibration of the TIME hydrodynamic model. The data collection network established through this project will include the following types of stations:
Methodology: The following sections describe the methods and techniques used for collection and analysis of all field data in order to describe freshwater flow patterns along the estuaries of southwest Florida. Data collection at all flow sites includes continuous (15-minute interval) measurements of water level, water velocity, salinity, temperature, and calibration measurements of discharge. Data collection at sites without the flow component will include continuous (15-minute interval) measurements of water level, salinity, and temperature. Most continuous data are recorded and transmitted every 4 hours by way of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) into the database of the USGS Miami office. For stations at which transmission of data is not possible or required, data will be logged, retrieved, and stored in the database of the USGS Miami office. Data collection
Data Analysis
Potential Impacts and Major Products: Information from this study will provide necessary information on freshwater flow from Everglades National Park (ENP) and Big Cypress Preserve (BCP), to the estuaries of southwest Florida. Much of this information has not been previously available to natural resource managers. Such information is critical for quantitatively determining the freshwater flows throughout the southwestern part of ENP and BCP. The water level, water velocity, flow, salinity, and temperature data can be used in conjunction with data from many other ongoing efforts to help determine the effects of changes in water deliveries to ENP and BCP, and subsequently into the estuaries of southwest Florida. Flow is closely related to sediment transport, salinity, and chemical characteristics of these estuaries, which in turn, have great influence on the biology of the area. Additionally, this information will continue to be used as input to hydrodynamic models of ENP and coastal areas, and for water-budget determinations for South Florida. Such models and computations will be substantially more accurate and reliable because of the availability of water level, flow, and salinity data from this project. In turn, decisions regarding restoration activities based on scenario testing from such models and computations are also more reliable. As the restoration process proceeds, it will be critical to continue monitoring flow patterns in order to understand the effects of changing water supply, both quantity and source, on the coastal wetlands and estuaries of ENP and BCP. Collaborators: Ray Schaffranek, USGS-WRD
Clients:
B. WORK PLAN Title of Task 1: Hydrologic monitoring of estuaries within the southwest coast of Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve. Task Summary and Objectives: This task is designed to describe the salinity patterns of estuaries along the southwest coast of ENP, in relation to freshwater inflows to the estuaries and tidal exchange with the Gulf of Mexico, to provide support for the USGS Tides and Inflows in the Mangroves of the Everglades model (TIME) and to programs like the Everglades Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) and the SIRENIA project. Additionally, other federal and state agencies, universities, and local institutions conducting research in the area will be given access to all the information generated though this task. The objectives of this task are, (1) to describe the salinity patterns of estuaries along the southwest coast of ENP, in relation to freshwater inflows to the estuaries and tidal exchange with the Gulf of Mexico; and (2) to provide support for the USGS Tides and Inflows in the Mangroves of the Everglades (TIME) model, the SIRENIA Manatee research project, and programs like the Everglades Long Term Ecological Research (LTER). Additionally, other federal and state agencies, universities, and local institutions conducting research in the area will be give access to all the information generated though this study. Work to be undertaken during the proposal year and a description of the methods and procedures: FY-04/05
Planned Outreach: Poster presentation at the next GEER/Florida Bay conference Title of Task 2: Local elevation surveys at all monitoring stations. Task Summary and Objectives: This task is designed to establish elevation ties between 22 monitoring gage-house measuring points and reference marks (RM's) installed for obtaining NAVD-88 datum with GPS instrumentation. The objective of this task is to enable elevation datum transfer from stable reference marks to each gage-house in order to have all monitoring stations reading water levels in reference to NAVD-88. Stations surveyed will include 9 USGS and 13 NPS/ENP monitoring stations. Elevation transfers were completed in FY-03 at four USGS monitoring stations. Work to be undertaken during the proposal year and a description of the methods and procedures:
FY-04
C. BRIEF DESCRIPTION ON HOW PROJECT TASKS SUPPORT THE DOI AND USGS EVERGLADES RESTORATION SCIENCE PLANS This project is directly tied to the Monitoring and Assessment Plan (MAP), performance measures (salinity distributions), hydrodynamic model development and verification (TIME), and will provide baseline information on flows and salinity throughout the estuaries along the southwest coast of Everglades National Park. Additionally, this effort is linked to projects listed on the DOI Science Document and to issues listed in the USGS Science Plan in Support of Everglades Restoration (Restoration goals) Related projects listed on DOI Science Document:
USGS Restoration Goals:
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U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
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Last updated: 01 July, 2004 @ 10:48 AM(KP)