Everglades National Park Florida Bay water quality monitoring (2017-2024) dataset

Florida Bay has been exposed to a series of events in the past that has led to major ecological changes. Beginning with the seagrass die-off of 2015, water quality began to deteriorate, and a subsequent phytoplankton bloom began in the late wet season of 2016. Since then, Hurricane Irma along with other wind and rain events appear to have contributed to the persistence and intensification of these blooms.

During the last decade, Everglades National Park (EVER) has conducted extensive monitoring and research of the Florida Bay ecosystem to document long term trends in water quality and to gain insights into the dynamics of these phytoplankton blooms. Monitoring typically occurs every other month beginning in January over the course of 5 days.