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Determining Target Salinity Values for Restoration of the Estuaries of the Greater Everglades

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Frequently-anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Determining Target Salinity Values for Restoration of the Estuaries of the Greater Everglades
Abstract:
The primary objective of this project is to provide information to Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) managers that can be used to establish target salinity values and performance measures for the estuaries and coastal ecosystems. The information provided will consider the contribution of climate, sea level rise, and anthropogenic alteration of salinity values in the estuaries and coastal ecosystems.

The four areas of focus for the project are:

1. Refine existing modern analog dataset by completing analyses of modern samples collected between 1996 and 2004 and applying the data to core data compiled in the Synthesis Task 2. Collect new cores (if necessary) within the southern estuaries to fill in information gaps identified by the land management agencies (Everglades National Park (ENP), and Biscayne National Park (BNP) and the Southern Estuaries Subteam of the Regional Evaluation Team (RET) of Restoration Coordination and Verification (RECOVER) 3. Select a few sites in the transition zones to collect cores in a transect moving perpendicular to shore to analyze the rate of sea level rise in the region 4. Work with collaborators to input all of the combined paleoecology data into linear regression models that can hindcast salinity for different parts of the system

  1. How should this data set be cited?

    Wingard, Lynn, 2010, Determining Target Salinity Values for Restoration of the Estuaries of the Greater Everglades.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -81.6
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -80
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 26
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 24.5

  3. What does it look like?

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

    Beginning_Date: 01-Oct-2006
    Ending_Date: 30-Sep-2010
    Currentness_Reference: ground condition

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

    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: project

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

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

      Indirect_Spatial_Reference: Everglades National Park and Florida Bay

    2. What coordinate system is used to 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? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

    Current project personnel include: T. Cronin, M. Marot, J. Murray, C. Bernhardt, T. Colley, T. Sheehan, B. Stackhouse. D. Willard, and F. Marshall

    Previous project personnel include: C. Holmes, W. B. Schill, R. Ortiz, C. Budet, K. Waylen, J. Hudley,

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

    Lynn Wingard
    U.S. Geological Survey
    926A National Center
    Reston, VA 20192
    USA

    703 648-5352 (voice)
    703 648-6953 (FAX)
    lwingard@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

The importance and application of ecosystem history research to restoration goals has been previously identified. The Department of the Interior (DOI) Science Plan lists as one of three primary restoration activities the need to "ensure that hydrologic performance targets accurately reflect the natural predrainage hydrology and ecology". The primary goal of this project is to determine the predrainage and ecology of critical regions within the estuaries and coastal ecosystems of south Florida identified by the groups charged with setting performance measures and targets for these coastal zones.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

    Date: 2008 (process 1 of 6)
    Development of salinity targets for CERP through application of paleoecologic data

    Modern proxy data have been compiled and tested against known salinities and shown to be a reliable indicator of salinity with a correlation coefficient of 0.8 at a 95% confidence level. These results were presented to members of the Southern Esutaries Sub-Team of RECOVER and at the National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration in April 2007. Collaboration on the development of salinity targets with the Southern Estuaries sub-team has continued, and a set of preliminary salinity targets has been developed. The paleosalinity values provided by our project have been successfully used by modelers to hindcast stage height in the terrestrial Everglades

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Lynn Wingard
    U.S. Geological Survey
    926A National Center
    Reston, VA 20192
    USA

    703 648-5352 (voice)
    703 648-6953 (FAX)
    lwingard@usgs.gov

    Date: 2008 (process 2 of 6)
    Assessment of sea level rise in South Florida's estuaries

    In FY 2007 the plan is to select a few sites in the transition zones to collect cores in an transect moving perpendicular to shore in order to analyze the rate of sea level rise in the region. Existing datasets on sea level change will be gathered and compiled.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Tom Cronin
    U.S. Geological Survey
    926A National Center
    Reston, VA 20192
    USA

    703 648-6363 (voice)
    703 648-6953 (FAX)
    tcronin@usgs.gov

    Date: 2009 (process 3 of 6)
    Development of Salinity Targets for CERP through application of Paleoecologic Data

    In FY08, we will analyze all existing core data using the modern molluscan proxy data set developed in FY07. These results will be compared to other proxy data, and summary interpretations published. Additional modern collections will be made in the nearshore and infaunal communities of the estuaries to fine tune the proxy data sets. We will continue our collaboration with the Southern Estuaries Sub-Team and the modelers using our paleosalinity data in regression analyses

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Lynn Wingard
    U.S. Geological Survey
    926A National Center
    Reston, VA 20192
    USA

    703 648-5352 (voice)
    703 648-6953 (FAX)
    lwingard@usgs.gov

    Date: 2010 (process 4 of 6)
    Assessment of sea level rise in South Florida’s estuaries

    Collection of new cores was delayed in FY07 while we completed analyses of the SW coastal cores from the Ecosystem History of the Southwest Coast-Shark River Slough Outflow Area Project. We believe these cores will illustrate general sea level patterns in southern Florida that can then be tested in Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay if necessary. We are continuing to compile existing data sets on sea level change and hope to initiate collaboration with Florida Gulf Coast University in FY08.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Tom Cronin
    U.S. Geological Survey
    926A National Center
    Reston, VA 20192
    USA

    703 648-6363 (voice)
    703 648-6953 (FAX)
    tcronin@usgs.gov

    Date: Not complete (process 5 of 6)
    Development of salinity targets for CERP through application of paleoecologic data

    We will continue in FY10 to provide information on flow, stage and salinity for the pre-drainage Everglades to the Southern Coastal Systems subteam of RECOVER. We will utilize the models developed by Dr. Frank Marshall (contractor, Cetacean Logic Foundation) coupled with paleoecologic data from USGS cores. At least two additional cores from Florida Bay will be analyzed in FY10. (Individual reports will release the core data.) Our plan is to complete work on Florida Bay, and to develop a "consensus" pre-drainage hydrologic regime for Florida Bay. This information will be presented orally and/or in report form to the Southern Coastal Systems subteam of RECOVER. In addition, we will compile the information for a manuscript on the pre-drainage hydrology of Florida Bay for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. Work will expand in FY10 from Florida Bay to begin applying the coupled paleoecology - linear regression models to cores from Southwest Coastal area (Shark River Slough Transect). At least one core from this area will be incorporated into the linear regression models in FY10.

    Additionally, improvements to our modern analog data set will continue. We will identify/refine the modern ecologic constraints for a few key species found in the cores. A faunal/floral association found in the southwest coastal area will be investigated as potential indicators for the critical freshwater/estuarine transition zone. This work will be conducted in conjunction with Impacts of Hydrologic and Climatic Change on Greater Everglades Marl Prairies, Marshes, and Sloughs (Willard, PI).

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Lynn Wingard
    U.S. Geological Survey
    926A National Center
    Reston, VA 20192
    USA

    703 648-5352 (voice)
    703 648-6953 (FAX)
    lwingard@usgs.gov

    Date: Not complete (process 6 of 6)
    Development of salinity targets for CERP through application of paleoecologic data

    FY2011 efforts will be focused on synthesizing the paleosalinity data on all of south Florida's estuaries to develop a regional overview of the changes that have occurred in the Southern Coastal Systems. These data will include the faunal and floral analyses that have been conducted over the years, as well as the linear regression models developed by Frank Marshall. By including Frank Marshall's models, we are able to estimate the freshwater stage and flow in the wetlands required to produce the paleosalinities derived from the biotic analyses.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Lynn Wingard
    U.S. Geological Survey
    926A National Center
    Reston, VA 20192
    USA

    703 648-5352 (voice)
    703 648-6953 (FAX)
    lwingard@usgs.gov

  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

    Wolfert-Lohmann, M. A. Langevin, C. D.; Jones, S. , 2008, U.S. Geological Survey Science Strategy for Biscayne National Park and Surrounding Areas in Southeastern Florida: USGS Open-File Report 2007-1288, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: accessed as of 5/4/2011
    Wingard, G. L. Hudley, J. W.; Marshall, F., 2010, Estuaries of the Greater Everglades: Laboratories of Long-term Change: USGS Fact Sheet 2010-3407, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: accessed as of 5/16/2011
    Marshall, III, F. E. Wingard, G. L.; Pitts, P, 2009, A simulation of historic hydrology and salinity in Everglades National Park: coupling paleologic assemblage data with regression models: Estuaries and Coasts v. 32, n. 1, p. 37-53, Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF), Port Republic, MD.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: accessed as of 5/16/2011
    Murray, J. B. Wingard, G. L.; Cronin, T. , 2010, Evidence of environmental change in Rankin Basin, Central Florida Bay, Everglades National Park: USGS Open-File Report 2010-1125, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: accessed as of 5/16/2011

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?

    not available

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

    not available

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

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

Access_Constraints: none
Use_Constraints: none

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

    Heather S. Henkel
    U.S. Geological Survey
    600 Fourth St. South
    St. Petersburg, FL 33701
    USA

    727 803-8747 ext 3028 (voice)
    727 803-2030 (FAX)
    hhenkel@usgs.gov

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

    Ecosystem History of South Florida Estuaries Data

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    The field data contained in this database have been compiled, standardized and verified to the original records.

  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 16-May-2011
Metadata author:
Heather Henkel
U.S. Geological Survey
600 Fourth Street South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
USA

727 803-8747 ext 3028 (voice)
727 803-2030 (FAX)
sofia-metadata@usgs.gov

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

This page is <http://sofia.usgs.gov/metadata/sflwww/target_sal_vals.faq.html>

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Comments and suggestions? Contact: Heather Henkel - Webmaster
Generated by mp version 2.8.18 on Mon May 16 16:44:51 2011