Improving the quantity, quality, timing, and distribution of freshwater flows through Everglades National Park (ENP) is a primary goal of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). Understanding estuary salinity and residence times are important factors for describing a wide range of biological and chemical issues associated with the freshwater marsh/coastal mangrove transitional zone. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has participated in studies since 1995 to quantify the volume of freshwater moving from the Everglades wetlands into the coastal estuaries. The USGS operates an extensive network of monitoring stations at coastal creeks and rivers that discharge freshwater into northeastern Florida Bay and the southwestern coastal estuaries along the Gulf of Mexico. The existing network includes over 30 data-collection platforms, which measure flow volume, salinity, temperature, precipitation, water-level and water-quality data (total phosphorus and total Kjeldahl nitrogen) along transects that represent major flow paths to the coast of ENP. This network has provided valuable data for hydrodynamic model development and calibration, as well as baseline information for CERP and pre-CERP studies. Real-time data (120-days) are now available via the National Information Water System (NWIS) web portal (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/fl/nwis/). Published unit value data can be retrieved from an updated coastal network database located on the South Florida Information Access web portal (http://sofia.usgs.gov/exchange/zucker_woods_patino/hydrology_data.php) (updated url: http://sofia.usgs.gov/exchange/zucker_woods_patino/index.php).

The USGS coastal network in ENP and surrounding estuaries addresses the continuing Everglades restoration because:

1. pre-CERP (baseline) hydrology can be compared to data collected after CERP modifications. For example, flow volume information collected along the southwest coast of Florida will benefit the Tamiami Trail project which began in late 2009; on-going
2. data are used to evaluate hydrologic responses from short- and long-term climatic events, such as tropical storms, hurricanes, and sea level rise;
3. current water quality investigations fill in gaps of knowledge for areas affected by CERP restoration.

Contact Information: J. Woods, U.S. Geological Survey, 3110 SW 9th Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33315, Phone: 954 377-5950, Fax: 954 377-5901, Email: jwoods@usgs.gov

(This abstract is from the 2010 Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (GEER) Conference)

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Related Project: Coastal Gradients of Flow, Salinity and Nutrients