Coastal Gradients of Flow, Salinity, and Nutrients

Eleven monitoring stations will have been operated and maintained along the southwest coast of ENP, the Everglades wetlands, and along the coastlines of northeastern Florida Bay and northwest Barnes Sound. Data collected at these 11 stations will include water level, velocity, salinity, and temperature. These stations will complement information currently being generated through an existing network of 20 hydrologic monitoring stations of on-going USGS projects. By combining data collected from the monitoring stations and the existing monitoring network, information will be available across 9 generalized coastal gradients or transects. Data collected at all flow sites will be transmitted in near real time (every 1 or 4 hours) by way of satellite telemetry to the automated data processing system (ADAPS) database in the USGS Center for Water and Restoration Studies (CWRS) in Miami and available for CERP purposes. In addition to data from monitoring stations described above, salinity surveys will be performed along these 9 generalized transects, and these will include salinity, temperature, and GPS data from boat-mounted systems. Surveys will be performed regularly on a quarterly basis and twice following hydrologic events, totaling a maximum of 6 surveys per year.