Datasets:
patrickbdevaney
/
mia9

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
 Community
1
text
stringlengths
0
6.44k
Peering Estate
Central Bay
Zone
Fender Point Biscayne
Bay
Sands Key
Convoy
Point Southern Bay
Zone A
Mangrove Point
Area Enlarged
0 2 4 6 8 10 Kilometers
Atlantic
Ocean
Zone B
Northern
Bay
\Zo n e
Key
Biscayne
S-22
Shoal Point
S-123
S-21
S-21A
S-20G
S -20F
Southern
Bay ,
Figure 1. Biscayne National Park regional setting and Bay Zone definitions.
Ecological and Hydrologic Targets for Western Biscayne National Park 3
would be well undertaken by an interagency team. This report
does provide targets related to ecology, salinity, and time series for water volume for the Western Bay Zone. To do this, we
begin with two basic ecological premises: 1) healthy seagrass
communities support diverse biological communities, and
2) components of the biological community are sensitive to
salinity levels and salinity changes.
Area Description
Biscayne Bay is the largest estuary on the coast of southeast
Florida and is continuous with the southern Everglades, separated from the Florida Bay system only by a narrow isthmus
connecting Key Largo to the mainland. Naturally, freshwater
flowed into Biscayne Bay from the Everglades through finger
glades primarily in the wet season and through groundwater
seepage year round.
This report focuses on the portion of Biscayne Bay within
Biscayne National Park (Central and South Bay; Fig. 1).
Though park waters are the primary concern of this report,
similar methodology can be applied in northern Biscayne Bay
by agencies that are more familiar with conditions there and
that are responsible for its protection.
Biscayne Bay has been divided in various ways, but the
most useful has been based on hydrodynamic circulation
as used by the Miami-Dade County Planning Department
(1986) and by the South Florida Water Management District in the Surface Water Improvement Plan for Biscayne
Bay (1995). In this report, we divide Biscayne Bay into three
sections (North Bay, Central Bay, and South Bay) based on
dominant circulation patterns driven by proximity to oceanic
inlets (Wang et al. 2003). These circulation patterns strongly
influence salinity and, therefore, the ecology of the different
regions of the bay. A newer and alternate delineation of the
bay was created based on analysis of water quality data by Joe
Boyer at Florida International University (Boyer 2004). Boyer
groups areas based on similarities in water quality conditions
composed primarily of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds,
as well as other nutrients. Since water quality in Biscayne Bay
is largely dependant on canal discharge, which was not present historically, we have chosen to use the designation based
upon physical circulation patterns.
These divisions form the basis for oceanographic, geologic,
and hydrologic factors that influence salinity and, therefore,
ecology. Dominant circulation patterns vary based on local
effects within four major hydrodynamic regions:
4 North Bay (from Dumfoundling Bay south to Rickenbacker Causeway)
4 Central Bay (from Rickenbacker Causeway south to
Black Point)
4 South Bay (from Black Point south to Jewfish Creek) (SFWMD 1995)
a. The South Bay Section, from Black Point to Mangrove
Point, the southwest corner of Biscayne National Park
(Southern Bay Zone A)
b. The Extreme Southern Bay Section from Mangrove
point to Jewfish Creek, (Card and Barnes Sounds, and
the associated bay, Manatee Bay), which are within
the boundary of the Florida Keys National Marine
Sanctuary and the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve
(Southern Bay Zone B).
The general circulation within Central and South Bay (Fig. 2)
is driven by the large tidal flow in and out of the bay across
an area known as the Safety Valve, and modified by the tidal
flows through the five small creeks bisecting the island chain
north of Key Largo, and by the large tidal oscillation in and
out of the enclosed southern basins, Card and Barnes Sounds.
Circulation and water exchange in North Bay has little to no
influence on the circulation in Central Bay. This tidally-driven
flow pattern is based on unpublished salinity monitoring data
collected by Biscayne National Park staff. The resulting current pattern is consistent with the circulation models developed for Biscayne Bay by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(Dr. Rob MacAdory) and the University of Miami (Dr. John
Wang). Freshwater from the mainland enters South Bay directly along the western coastline, and indirectly through
Card and Barnes Sounds and Central Bay. The net effect is
that the western part of the Bay (between Turkey Point and
Black Point) is the area most influenced by freshwater flows.
In terms of desired conditions for Biscayne National Park,