NPS stage-rain sites

Frequently-anticipated questions:

• What does this data set describe?
  1. How should this data set be cited?
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
• Who produced the data set?
  1. Who are the originators of the data set?
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
• Why was the data set created?
• How was the data set created?
  1. Where did the data come from?
  2. What changes have been made?
• How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?
  1. How well have the observations been checked?
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the data, including topology?
• How can someone get a copy of the data set?
  1. Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
  2. Who distributes the data?
  3. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?
  4. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
  5. How can I download or order the data?
• Who wrote the metadata?

Title: NPS stage-rain sites

Abstract:

The data sets contain data for stage and rain measurements at 54 NPS sites in Everglades National Park. Data collection is continuing at these sites. Go to <http://time.er.usgs.gov/TIME> for a list of the sites.

1. How should this data set be cited?

   Park, Everglades National , Unknown, NPS stage-rain sites.

   Online Links:

   • <http://time.er.usgs.gov/TIME/>

2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

   West_Bounding_Coordinate: -80.97

   East_Bounding_Coordinate: -80.45

   North_Bounding_Coordinate: 25.76

   South_Bounding_Coordinate: 25.23

3. What does it look like?

4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

   Beginning_Date: 1998

   Ending_Date: Present

   Currentness_Reference: ground condition

5. What is the general form of this data set?

6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
   1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Point data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):

      • Entity point (54)

   2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.01. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.01. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees.

      Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:

      Altitude_System_Definition:

      Altitude_Datum_Name: National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929

      Altitude_Resolution: .1

      Altitude_Distance_Units: feet

      Altitude_Encoding_Method:

      Explicit elevation coordinate included with horizontal coordinates

7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
   • Everglades National Park

2. Who also contributed to the data set?

3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

   Everglades National Park
   c/o Kevin Kotun
   SFNRC
   40001 State Road 9336
   Homestead, FL 33034
   USA
   

   305 242-7829 (voice)
   Kevin_Kotun@nps.gov
   

A critical objective of the south Florida ecosystem restoration effort is to preserve ecological conditions that are consistent with habitat requirements. The duration, timing, and extent of wetland inundation in the southern Everglades have been greatly distorted as evidenced by shifts in biologic and vegetative species. Both regulatory and natural factors contribute to the definition of hydroperiods making their precise evaluation and management difficult. This complexity is particularly problematic in the transition zone between the Everglades wetlands and coastal embayments encompassing the mangrove ecotone where freshwater inflow effects on salinities must also be considered. In order to correctly and sufficiently investigate flow effects on both hydroperiods and embayment salinities neither hydrologic processes affecting flows in the wetlands nor the dynamic effects of external forces such as tides and winds can be ignored. This project entails translation of findings from the Southern Inland and Coastal Systems (SICS) project and extension of the model westward to resolve boundary limitations and to enable concurrent analysis of wetland and tidal response throughout the entire saltwater-freshwater interface zone along the Gulf coast and Florida Bay. Extension of the SICS model westward will require the addition of continuous monitoring stations to supplement data from coastal creek stations and control structures needed to provide boundary conditions as well as the synoptic measurement of flows and water levels in the wetlands for use in model calibration and verification.

This project is focused on further developing, extending, implementing, and using a mathematical model to study the interaction between wetland sheet flows and dynamic forces in the transition zone between the southern Everglades and its coastal embayments. The model will be used to study and evaluate the combined response of hydroperiods in the wetlands and salinities in the mangrove ecotone to inflow alterations. The project effort will include 1) monitoring hydrologic processes and dynamic forces to develop an improved understanding of them individually and of their interaction, 2) translating this information and prior knowledge of processes gleaned from the SICS project into improved empirical expressions and mathematical equations to better represent the processes both individually and collectively, 3) transforming these expressions and their correlation to ecosystem properties into numerical algorithms, 4) integrating these algorithms into an existing numerical model framework, 5) implementing the model to the transition zone of the Everglades that encompasses the mangrove ecotone using collected data to define critical ecosystem properties such as land-surface elevations, vegetative characteristics, etc., 6) calibrating the model using time series of water-level and flow data collected at strategic intermediate internal points, 7) using the model to investigate and quantify the interrelation of wetland and tidal flows in the transition zone in response to real and hypothesized temporal and spatial variations in inflows, and 8) documenting the model implementation and any findings using it that are critical to improved management of the ecosystem.

1. Where did the data come from?

2. What changes have been made?

   Date: Unknown (change 1 of 1)

   Stage and rain measuremetns were recorded hourly.

   Person responsible for change:
   

   Everglades National Park
   c/o Kevin Kotun
   SFNRC
   40001 State Road 9336
   Homestead, FL 33034
   USA
   

   305 242-7829 (voice)
   Kevin_Kotun@nps.gov
   

1. How well have the observations been checked?

2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

   All available measurements are included in the data set.

5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

   not applicable

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: None.

Use_Constraints:

These data are subject to change and are not citable until reviewed and approved for official publication.

1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

   Harry Jenter
   U.S. Geological Survey
   430 National Center
   Reston, VA 20192
   USA
   

   703 648-5916 (voice)
   703 648-5484 (FAX)
   hjenter@usgs.gov
   

2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

   NPS stage and rain sites

3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

   This data is provisional and subject to change.

4. How can I download or order the data?
   • Availability in digital form:

     Data format:
     Network links:	<http://time.er.usgs.gov/TIME/>

   • Cost to order the data: none

Dates:

Last modified: 15-Mar-2000

Metadata author:

Jo Anne Stapleton
U.S. Geological Survey
521 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
USA

703 648 4592 (voice)
703 648 4614 (FAX)
jastapleton@usgs.gov

Metadata standard:

Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Coastal Geology
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