Manatee Springs Run 7: Main line to Snow and Spring Tunnels

On Sunday 01-04-2026 as part of our collaboration with Dr. Patricia Spellman (Department of Geosciences, University of South Florida), two Karst Underwater Research (KUR) cave divers gathered data from the main conduit, Snow tunnel, and Spring tunnel of the cave system in Manatee Springs State Park, Levy County, Florida USA. Divers Ken Sallot and Josh Lange entered at Catfish Hotel sink and used diver propulsion vehicles to run a YSI EXO3 datasonde along the main cave line and into the Snow tunnel and then Spring tunnel, approximately 10,000 feet upstream in the main conduit. The datasonde measured water temperature, pH, specific conductivity and dissolved oxygen throughout the dive. Divers verified the location of the 11 sample locations that will be used in this project and updated the cave system map accordingly. Divers returned via the same route and exited at Catfish Hotel Sink.. Total dive runtime was 227 minutes. Timestamp information is included to help synchronize the datasonde data with various locations in the cave are included.