GEMM - Groundwater Exchange Monitoring and Modeling

GEMM is a 5 year project to understand and quantify ground water exchange effects relatating to Florida Bay and contributing fresh water inputs.
The Groundwater Exchange Modeling and Monitoring (GEMM) Plan was created to provide a framework to address the uncertainties associated with landscape-scale flow patterns and impediments, SW-GW interactions, impacts of seepage eastward on GW movements south to Florida Bay, and the influence of water management on Florida Bay salinity, especially in the central Florida Bay region. A conceptual model of the drivers and interactions associated with central Florida Bay salinity (see attached work plan document) will guide the assessment of existing knowledge on GW influence in central Florida Bay, the development of a surface and porewater salinity emulator tool for coastal Florida Bay, and the collection of critical information where data gaps currently exist.

The overarching goal of GEMM is to understand how increases in water to Shark River Slough (SRS) and Taylor Slough (TS) decrease salinities in Florida Bay. There are two broad objectives of GEMM:
1) Determine how changes in upstream water management in SRS and/or TS decrease salinities in Central Florida Bay.
1a- Create a salinity emulator model by linking a density-dependent hydrodynamic model (BISECT) with the output of the District’s water management model (RSMGL) to evaluate SW/GW interactions.
1b- Conduct ecological monitoring to validate and provide accurate model inputs.
2) Use information from Objective 1 to evaluate both naturally occurring conditions and water
management scenarios on salinity in Florida Bay to predict occurrences of hypersalinity.