WCA - Everglades Conditions Update

(July 1, 2008)

 

Rainfall:

High intensity rain cells occurred in the EAA and Lake-O. The Everglades saw relatively little rainfall except the northern regions of WCA-3A and Taylor Slough in the Park (see attached raindar.gif). Rainfall totals this week were not enough to compensate for evaporation, estimated to be 1.52” (see srs.pdf).

WCA-1:          0.33”               WCA-3A:        1.14”

WCA-2A:       0.41”               WCA-3B:        0.38”

WCA-2B:       0.04”               ENP:                1.15”

 

Fire:

No reported fires this past week.

 

Water Conservation Areas:

Good recession rates occurred this past week in quite a few locations throughout the Everglades (see attached WCA Stages.xls). However, only two locations had both good recession rates and depths suitable for wading bird foraging (i.e., < 1.0 ft); one was the northern regions of WCA-1 and the other was WCA-3B. Depths in WCA-2A continue to be below 1 ft however, reversals have been the trend in WCA-2A for the last three weeks.

 

Stages are currently above regulation in WCA-1 and WCA-2A. Stages are within the E1 zone of the WCA-3A Regulation Schedule  (see WCA_reg_stages.doc).

 

Everglades National Park:

Weekly rainfall accumulations across ENP ranged from 0.1” – 3.7”, with higher totals picked up along the eastern Park boundary.  Spatially variable rainfall produced mixed trends for ENP wetland water levels.  Water level actually dropped in Shark River Sl. (station P33) by 0.6” for the week.  This is in contrast to Taylor Sl. Bridge, where water levels increased by nearly 11” (after a 16” increase last week), and are finally approaching average conditions for this time of year (near ground surface).  By comparison, stage increases were more modest in the panhandle (station EVER6, 7 d increase of 1.4”) and in the southern part of Taylor Sl. at Craighead Pond (weekly increase of 2”).  Moderate flows (< 200 cfs) from S332D continue to be delivered towards Taylor Sl., while higher flows (300 - 1000 cfs) have been recorded through the S18C panhandle spillway since 6/19.

 

Salinity trends across FL Bay were mixed last week.  USGS platforms at the eastern creek mouths (W. Highway, Stillwater, Trout) recorded declining salinity over the past week, from the mid-30s down into the teens or mid-20s by Sunday, 6/29.  However, salinity in the eastern Bay proper (e.g., Duck Key, L. Madeira Bay mouth), held in the mid-30s for another week.  Salinity concentrations have been stable in creeks to the west (Taylor River, Mud Ck), further suggesting (as CP stage has also shown) that Taylor Slough will require a good bit of re-hydration before flows make their way south towards the Bay.  The Taylor River (TR) 30d moving average salinity concentration (used for tracking the FL Bay MFL criterion) dropped to 31.7 psu as of Sunday, 6/29 (down a bit from last week’s reading of 34.5 psu).  Salinity remained stable in the northcentral Bay areas of McCormick Ck. & Terrapin Bay (in the mid-30s) and at the central Bay station in Whipray Basin (in the mid 40s).  In the upstream reaches of Shark River (Tarpon Bay platform), on the other hand, salinity dropped into the single digits last week (down to 6 psu as of Sunday, 6/29), slowly approaching seasonal average concentrations. Please contact Robin Bennett (rbennet @sfwmd.gov)  if you have any questions.

 

Wildlife:

Nothing new to report. 

 

 


 

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