Influence of Net Freshwater Supply on Salinity in Florida
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 36, NO. 7, PAGES 1805–1822, JULY 2000 Influence of net freshwater supply on salinity in Florida Bay William K. Nuttle and James W. Fourqurean Southeast Environmental Research Center, Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami Bernard J. Cosby and Joseph C. Zieman Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville Michael B. Robblee Biological Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, Florida International University, Miami Abstract. An annual water budget for Florida Bay, the large, seasonally hypersaline estuary in the Everglades National Park, was constructed using physically based models and long-term (31 years) data on salinity, hydrology, and climate. Effects of seasonal and interannual variations of the net freshwater supply (runoff plus rainfall minus evaporation) on salinity variation within the bay were also examined. Particular attention was paid to the effects of runoff, which are the focus of ambitious plans to restore and conserve the Florida Bay ecosystem. From 1965 to 1995 the annual runoff from the Everglades into the bay was less than one tenth of the annual direct rainfall onto the bay, while estimated annual evaporation slightly exceeded annual rainfall. The average net freshwater supply to the bay over a year was thus approximately zero, and interannual variations in salinity appeared to be affected primarily by interannual fluctuations in rainfall. At the annual scale, runoff apparently had little effect on the bay as a whole during this period. On a seasonal basis, variations in rainfall, evaporation, and runoff were not in phase, and the net freshwater supply to the bay varied between positive and negative values, contributing to a strong seasonal pattern in salinity, especially in regions of the bay relatively isolated from exchanges with the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean.
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