Weekly Estuarine
Conditions Update - As of October 19 2009
St.
Lucie
Estuary
Current
Conditions:
Over
the past week, flow averaged 0 cfs at S-80 and 25 cfs at S308.
Provisional data indicates that discharge of 0 cfs occurred at S-97 on C-23 and
0 cfs at S-49 on C-24. The current weekly average salinities (in bold) at
the four monitoring sites in the St. Lucie Estuary are given below in practical
salinity units (psu), along with the previous week’s
(in parenthesis).
|
Weekly Average Salinity (psu) |
|
|
Sampling Site |
Surface |
Bottom |
Envelope |
Palm City Bridge (S. Fork) |
13.7 (9.8) |
15.1 (11.3) |
|
HR1 (N. Fork) |
16.3 (11.8) |
19.4 (15.0) |
|
Roosevelt Bridge |
19.0 (15.6)
|
21.1 (16.8) |
8.0 – 25.0 |
A1A Bridge |
27.2 (22.6) |
29.2 (26.3) |
20.0 – 31.0 |
Average
salinity increased over the last week. Weekly average salinities at
Roosevelt Bridge and A1A Bridge are within the preferred range. Salinity
conditions in the estuary are good considering the time of year, the location
in the estuary, and salinity preference of the oyster, Crassostrea
virginica.
Caloosahatchee
Estuary
Current
Conditions:
During
the past week, flow averaged 33 cfs at S-79, 28 cfs at S-78, and 280 cfs at
S-77. The concentration of chlorides at the Olga Plant was 55 ppm yesterday. The current weekly average salinities
(in bold) at the six monitoring sites in the Caloosahatchee Estuary are given
below in practical salinity units (psu), along with
the previous week’s (in parenthesis).
Weekly Average Salinity (psu) |
||
Sampling Site |
Surface |
Bottom |
Franklin Locks (S-79) |
0.5 (0.2) |
0.5 (0.3) |
Rt. 31 Bridge |
0.7 (0.3) |
1.0 (0.3) |
I-75 Bridge |
1.2 (0.3) |
2.4 (0.8) |
Ft. Myers Yacht Basin |
NR (NR) |
NR (NR) |
Marker 52 |
6.4 (3.7) |
10.1 (8.9) |
Cape Coral Bridge |
14.3 (10.7) |
16.0 (14.3) |
Shell Point |
26.0 (25.3) |
26.8 (25.5) |
Sanibel |
30.2 |
31.1 |
Salinity
increased throughout the estuary last week. Salinity conditions in the
upper estuary are considered good. Salinities
at the Cape Coral Bridge are within the preferred range for the oyster, Crassostrea virginica.
Salinity at Shell Point indicates that conditions are good for seagrass in the lower estuary and San Carlos Bay.
Therefore, conditions in the lower estuary and San Carlos Bay are good.
FWRI
(Fish and Wildlife Research Institute) reports that Karenia brevis, the
Florida red tide organism, was not detected in water samples collected
this week alongshore of Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Collier and Monroe
counties or offshore of Pinellas and Monroe counties. Four samples collected
alongshore of Sarasota County (out of 29 total samples) ranged from present to
very low concentrations of K. brevis. Two
samples collected alongshore of Charlotte County and one sample collected
alongshore of Lee County contained background levels of K. brevis. A research cruise that was conducted last week
through early this week offshore of southwest Florida detected levels of K. brevis ranging from background to medium concentrations
offshore of Lee and Collier counties, west and south of Sanibel Island. (research.myfwc.com/features/view_article.asp?id=9670).
Monitoring
data collected by the River, Estuary and Coastal Observing Network (RECON) of
Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF)
indicated that chlorophyll ranged from and 1.2 – 3.4 ug/l
and Dissolved Oxygen ranged from 4.0 – 6.8 mg/l at Shell Point. Reading
at Ft. Myers were unavailable. (www.recon.sccf.org).
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