WCA -
(July 8, 2008)
Rainfall:
Water
Conservation Areas 1 and 2 received a large quantity of rain this past week
(see attached raindar.gif). Although
2 inches less rain fell across the southern system, it was still significant
because it was greater than the evaporation estimate for the week of 1.56” (see
srs.pdf).
WCA-1:
3.65”
WCA-3A: 3.1”
WCA-2A:
4.89”
WCA-3B: 2.62”
WCA-2B: 3.76”
ENP:
2.53”
Fire:
One marsh
grass fire was reported in the NE section of WCA-3A on Tuesday July 1.
Water Conservation Areas:
Last
week we saw a reprieve for the wading birds and their ability to feeding their
fledglings because good recession rates occurred in quite a few locations.
However, this week, the foraging period has officially ended everywhere in the
EPA, because all areas had significant stage increases and all are too deep for
wading bird foraging (see WCA
Stages.xls). Water levels increased by an amazing 0.67 ft (8 inches) in
WCA-2A. The smallest increase in stage was in WCA-1 (0.06 ft or ¾ inch). Depths
range from a low of 1.13 feet in WCA-3B to a high of 2.05 ft in the southern
region of WCA-3A (the L-67 c and d levees work to maintain this hydrologic
disparity).
Stages
are currently above regulation in all three Water Conservation Areas (see WCA_reg_stages.doc).
Spatially
variable rainfall again produced mixed trends for ENP wetland water
levels. Shark River Slough (station P33) water level was nearly unchanged
from last week (despite having receiving approx. 1.5” of rain for the
week). Water level dropped by nearly 2” (falling just beneath
ground surface) for the week at
Salinity
trends across FL Bay were also mixed last week. Only the eastern-most
USGS & ENP platforms at Highway Creek (HC) and Long Sound recorded
declining salinity over the past week, with HC reaching single digits as of
Sunday, 7/6. Salinity in the eastern Bay proper (e.g., Duck Key, L.
Madeira Bay mouth), held in the mid-30s for yet another week. The Taylor
River (TR) 30d moving average salinity (used for tracking the FL Bay MFL
criterion) dropped to 29.1 psu as of Sunday, 7/6 (down a bit from last week’s
reading of 31.7 psu); Friday (7/4) was the first time in 41 d this value has
been below the 30 psu threshold. Salinity in the central Bay station at
Wildlife:
No new data
or information to report.
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