WCA – Greater Everglades Conditions  Weekly Update – November 3, 2009

 

Rainfall:

Traces of rain fell throughout the Greater Everglades (see Raindar image and below), with only the Park receiving more than 0.1” this week.

 

Rain:                            WCA-1:          0.01 in             WCA-3A:       0.06 in

                                    WCA-2A:        0.03 in                        WCA-3B:      <0.01in

                                    WCA-2B:      <0.01 in                        ENP:               0.16 in

 

Water Conservation Areas:

This week’s pan evaporation of 1.22” (see srs pdf) was similar to last week’s, greatly exceeding rainfall in the conservation areas (see WCA Stages spreadsheet and below).  Stages declined in all areas except for WCA-2B.

 

Stage Change:             WCA-1:         -0.08 ft             WCA-3A:        -0.15 ft

                                    WCA-2A:      -0.17 ft             WCA-3B:        -0.08 ft

                                    WCA-2B:       0.05 ft              NESRS:           -0.07 ft

 

Water depths are declining across the region from -0.06 ft to -0.20 ft except in WCA-2B (see WCA Stages spreadsheet).  Gage 65 has now dropped below 2.5 ft, a depth monitored for stress to trees on the tree islands in southern WCA-3A.  Marsh water stages in WCA-1 remain 0.5 ft below regulation in zone B (see Reg schedule).  Stages in WCA-2A are 0.4 ft above regulation and are following the gradual decreasing slope of the regulation schedule, which is preferred going into the dry season for the wetlands.  In WCA-3A, stages have declined rapidly and are now 0.25 ft below regulation.

 

Water depths in the conservation areas show overall declines relative to a month ago (see Water depths map).  Greater Everglades depths are lower than they were a week ago, a month ago, and a year ago (see Depth differences map).

 

No fires were reported this week in the Greater Everglades.

 

Everglades National Park (ENP) and Florida Bay:

Like the rest of the Greater Everglades, very little rain fell across ENP wetlands and Florida Bay.  ENP stations measured 0” – 0.4” of rainfall.  The basin-wide totals were 0.2” and 0.01” for the ENP and C-111 basins, respectively (see Raindar).

 

Stages (see Stages pdf) declined across ENP wetland stations last week.  Water levels in Shark River Slough and at the Taylor Slough Bridge declined 0.2” and 0.5”, respectively.  To the south, water levels in the ENP panhandle and in Craighead Basin declined 0.8” and 1.1”, respectively.  Current water levels at all ENP wetland stations are considered seasonally normal.

 

Salinity (see Salinity pdf) increased or remained steady across Florida Bay last week.  In the near-shore eastern Bay, salinity increased to the middle teens in Highway Creek, to the low 20s in Long Sound, and to the middle 20s at the Little Madeira Bay platform.  Salinity remains in the low 30s further into the Bay in Duck Key Basin.  The 30 day moving average salinity at the Taylor River platform (used for tracking the Florida Bay MFL) increased slightly from 0.9 psu to 1.0 psu, with the daily mean salinity remaining steady near 1 psu.  In the north central Bay, salinity increased from the middle teens to the mid 20s in McCormick Creek, and after increasing to the upper 20s, salinity settled back to the middle 20s in Terrapin Bay.  At the central Bay platform in Whipray Basin, salinity was steady in the middle to upper 30s.  To the west, in the upstream reaches of Shark River Slough, salinity remained < 1 psu.  Current station salinities are seasonally normal or slightly to moderately above normal across Florida Bay.

 

For questions about Florida Bay, please contact Kevin Cunniff (kcunniff@sfwmd.gov ).

 


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