Freshwater Flows to Northeastern Florida Bay

In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a study to gage several major creeks that discharge freshwater into northeastern Florida Bay. This study provides flow, salinity, and water-level data for model development and calibration and also provides baseline data for other physical, biological and chemical studies being conducted in the area.

The monitoring network provides coastal discharge data for the majority of estuarine creeks in northeastern Florida Bay. The timing and distribution of freshwater deliveries to northeastern Florida Bay have been documented since 1996. In 2003 the USGS coastal and estuarine unit also began calculating nutrient loads at selected sites in northeastern Florida Bay and along the southwestern Everglades coast. The larger network has provided discharge information to researchers to develop nutrient budgets and loading (Rudnick, 1999; Sutula and others, 2003; Davis, 2004; and Levesque, 2004).