WCA - Everglades Conditions Update

(June 24, 2008)

 

Rainfall:

Heavy rainfall occurred throughout the Greater Everglades last week (see attached raindar.gif), ranging from 3.61” to 5.67”, greatly exceeding area pan evaporation of 1.26” (see srs.pdf).  The WCA and Park basin rainfall totals for the week were:

 

WCA-1:          5.67”               WCA-3A:        5.49”

WCA-2A:       4.97”               WCA-3B:        4.97”

WCA-2B:       3.61”               ENP:                5.06”

 

Water Conservation Areas:

The heavy rainfall this week produced rapid reversals and elevated stages throughout the Greater Everglades (see attached WCA Stages.xls). Stages rose between 0.2 ft in WCA-3B to 0.82 ft in northeastern Shark River Slough.  Stage reversals produced poor conditions for wading bird foraging throughout the Everglades, and depths were also generally poor for foraging except in parts of WCA-2B and WCA-3B.  With the high rainfall this week, stages in WCA-1 and WCA-2A are above regulation, and are at regulation in WCA-3A (see Reg Schedule.doc).

 

Everglades National Park:

Substantial rainfall totals were measured across the southern Everglades last week, including accumulations of 2.5-7.1” in Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.  The basin-wide rainfall was 5.2” in the ENP basin and 4.7” in the C-111 basin, a welcome increase from weeks past.

 

In response to this much-needed rainfall, water levels rose across the ENP wetlands (see Stages.pdf).  Water level increased by a substantial 3.7” in Shark River Slough at P33, 16” at Taylor Slough Bridge, 9.4” in the panhandle (station EVER6), and 8.2” in the southern part of Taylor Slough at Craighead Pond.  Stage still remains below average for this time of year at Taylor Slough Bridge and Craighead Pond, but this week’s increases improved deficits in Taylor Slough.  As of June 18, moderate flows (< 200 cfs) occurred from S332D towards Taylor Slough.

 

Salinity (see Salinity.pdf) across Florida Bay remains elevated, but declined following the heavy rainfall.  Concentrations dropped into the mid-30s across northeast Florida Bay last week.  Salinity in the Taylor ponds declined considerably from the mid-upper 30’s 2 wks ago to the lower-mid 20’s last week.  These declines will show up in the Taylor River (TR) 30-day moving average (used for tracking the FL Bay MFL criterion), but they presently remain at 34.5 psu (nearly unchanged from last week’s reading).  Salinity also dropped substantially in the north central Bay areas of McCormick Creek and Terrapin Bay, from the upper-40s in last week’s report, down to the mid-30’s this past week.  The central Bay station in Whipray Basin recorded salinity in the mid-40’s for another week, despite receiving 5.6” of rainfall for the week.  Salinity in the upstream reaches of Shark River (Tarpon Bay platform) remained near 12 psu for another week, a bit above average for this time of year.  Please contact Robin Bennett (rbennet @sfwmd.gov) with questions.

 

Wildlife:

About 7000 nesting pairs of wading birds have been counted in the Refuge and 2000 pairs in WCA 3A.  It is not clear where they are foraging with the poor conditions in the Everglades.  Please contact Mark Cook (mcook@sfwmd.gov) with questions. 

 


 

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