Estuarine Conditions as of November 12, 2007

 

St. Lucie Estuary

 

Current Conditions:

There were no releases through S-80 over the past week.  The C-24 canal discharge is down from last week to about 294 cfs at S-97. Discharges at S-49 on the C-23 canal are currently 229 cfs. The current weekly average salinities (in bold) at the four monitoring sites in the St. Lucie are given below in parts per thousand (ppt), along with the previous week’s (in parenthesis).

 

 

Weekly Average Salinity (ppt)

 

Sampling Site

Surface

Bottom

Envelope

Palm City Bridge (S. Fork)

2.5 (1.8)

2.9 (1.8)

 

HR1 (N. Fork)

7.3 (2.12)

10.3 (4.52)

 

Roosevelt Bridge

9.7 (5.63)

12.1 (7.91)

8.0 – 25.0

A1A Bridge

17.9 (15.53)

24.4 (23.84)

20.0 – 31.0

 

 

Salinity conditions improved by increasing this week throughout the estuary. Both the surface and bottom salinity are now up to the preferred range at the Roosevelt Bridge, but still only the bottom salinity is in the preferred range at the A1A Bridge. Based on the salinity tolerances of the oyster, Crassostrea virginica, salinity conditions in the estuary are good-fair (see attached).

 

 

Caloosahatchee Estuary

 

Current Conditions:

S-79 has not been recording discharge values since last Tuesday when the previous average week’s discharge was 24 cfs. Also, no current chloride values were reported at the structure. Average salinity increased last week by more than 2 ppt in the upper estuary, including at the Ft. Myers Yacht Basin. Data for specific sites are given below in parts per thousand (ppt).

 

 

Weekly Average Salinity (ppt)

Sampling Site

Surface

Bottom

Franklin Locks (S-79)

10.9 (8.1)

12.3 (8.9)

Rt. 31 Bridge

10.2 (7.8)

13.7 (9.1)

I-75 Bridge

10.5 (8.1)

14.2 (12.0)

Ft. Myers Yacht Basin

15.4 (13.3)

17.1 (16.4)

Cape Coral Bridge

22.3 (22.5)

24.5 (24.1)

Shell Point

30.0 (29.5)

30.9 (30.6)

 

Salinity conditions throughout the system remain good seaward of Cape Coral.  Conditions in the upper estuary are poor (see attached).

 

 

Water samples taken last week (reported on Nov 9 by FWRI) detected only background concentrations of red tide (Karenia brevis) along portions of Sanibel Island and at the Naples Pier. All other samples between Pinellas and Collier counties contained no red tide.

 

 

To find this information on the web:

https://my.sfwmd.gov/portal/page?_pageid=1314,2554645,1314_19738269:1314_19738234&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

·        click on “Current Week”

·        click on “Technical Summary”

·        scroll to the bottom and click on “Coastal Ecosystems”

 


 

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